Samuel Barnett and Declan Bennett will star in the Menier Chocolate Factory‘s upcoming new production of the play Kiss Of The Spider Woman.
Barnett, whose previous Menier Chocolate Factory appearance was in Dealer’s Choice (later West End), will play Molina, while Bennett (the title role in Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre’s Jesus Christ Superstar) will play Valentin.
Laurie Sansom, former Artistic Director of the National Theatre of Scotland, will direct José Rivera and Allan Baker’s iconic play adaptation, making his Menier debut. The production officially opens on 21 March, playing previews from 8 March, and runs until 5 May.
Samuel Barnett in Richard III at the Apollo Theatre (Photo: Simon Annand)
Declan Bennett as Jesus in Gethsemane in Jesus Christ Superstar (Photo: Johan Persson)
Kiss Of The Spider Woman is based on Manuel Puig’s ground-breaking novel El Beso De La Mujer Araña, and tells the story of two strikingly different cellmates in a Latin American prison. Their provocative story proves one of love, victimisation, fantasy and friendship.
The story was first adapted by Puig into a play, which was first staged in London in 1985, before Héctor Babenco’s Academy Award-winning film followed in the same year. John Kander, Fred Ebb and Terrence McNally subsequently penned a musical version, which ran in the West End in 1992.
Tickets can be booked through the Menier Chocolate Factory website.