Ben Miller, Nancy Carroll and Diana Vickers star in the West End premiere of outrageous new comedy The Duck House at the Vaudeville theatre.
Set in May 2009, when Gordon Brown’s government is in turmoil and a General Election is just one year away, The Duck House follows Robert Houston, a Labour backbencher who loves being an MP and will do anything to save his seat, including changing sides, as he prepares for his interview with Sir Norman Cavendish the day before the Expenses Scandal breaks.
As public fury begins to mount over the inappropriate use of taxpayers’ money to pay for second homes, hanging baskets, moat-cleaning and duck houses, Robert and his secretarial staff, otherwise known as his wife Felicity, student son Seb, Seb’s girlfriend Holly and Russian housekeeper Ludmilla, find themselves in a great deal of trouble.
Well known for his television appearances in series including Death In Paradise, The Worst Week Of My Life and The Armstrong And Miller Show, Miller was last seen on stage in the original cast of The Ladykillers, which played at the Gielgud theatre in 2011.
He is joined in the cast of The Duck House by Olivier Award winner Carroll, whose stage credits include the National Theatre’s production of After The Dance and The Recruiting Officer at the Donmar Warehouse, and former X Factor contestant Vickers, who has previously appeared on the West End stage in The Rise And Fall Of Little Voice.
Completing the cast are Debbie Chazen (In Basildon and The Girlfriend Experience at the Royal Court), James Musgrave (Jumpy and Wanderlust at the Royal Court) and Simon Shepherd (The Secret Rapture in the West End).
The production is written by two of satirical television’s most prolific writers, Dan Patterson and Colin Swash, and directed by Terry Johnson whose most recent credits include Hysteria, Race and Old Money at the Hampstead theatre.