Stephen Mangan and Kara Tointon to star in The Man In The White Suit
- 1951 Ealing comedy The Man In The White Suit is to be made into a stage show for the first time
- The show - launching in Bath in September before coming to London - is about a man who invents a super fibre
- Stephen Mangan will play the lead role of Sidney Stratton, with Kara Tointon playing Daphne Birnley
Stephen Mangan and Kara Tointon are to star in a new stage adaptation of classic Ealing comedy film The Man In The White Suit.
The play will open at Theatre Royal Bath in September, before transferring to London's Wyndham's Theatre in October, where it will then run until January 2020.
Released in 1951, The Man In The White Suit starred Alec Guinness, Joan Greenwood and Cecil Parker. Itself based on the play The Flower Within The Bud by Roger MacDougall, the screenplay - by MacDougall, John Dighton and director Alexander Mackendrick - went on to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Writing.
The story follows a man who invents a fibre that never gets dirty and never wears out, but it soon causes him problems.
In the world premiere stage production, which is being made by special arrangement with Ealing Studios rights owners STUDIOCANAL, Stephen Mangan will play the lead role of Sidney Stratton, with Kara Tointon playing Daphne Birnley.
The producers explain: "When Sidney Stratton, played by Stephen Mangan, develops a fabric that never gets dirty and never wears out, manufacturers and trades unions are terrified by the threat it poses to their industry and their jobs. Only Daphne (Kara Tointon) the mill owner's daughter, shows Stratton any sympathy as his world gradually falls apart before he finally finds love and a new idea."
This production will reunite Green Wing star Stephen Mangan with stage director Sean Foley. The duo previously created an Olivier Award winning stage version of Jeeves & Wooster together. Foley also teams up again with set and costume designer Michael Taylor, with whom he collaborated on the five-time Olivier Award-nominated The Ladykillers, another stage show based on a classic Ealing film.
Foley's new production will feature a cast of fourteen including actor musicians and a specially written score. Tickets are now on sale.
Theatre Royal Bath
5th - 21st September 2019
Monday - Saturday at 7.30pm, Wednesday and Saturday matinees 2.30pm
Wyndham's Theatre
26th September 2019 - 11th January 2020.
Monday - Saturday at 7.30pm, Wednesday and Saturday matinees 2.30pm