New musical Gin Craze! cast and dates for premiere at Royal & Derngate

New musical Gin Craze! is to hold its world premiere at Royal & Derngate in Northampton.

Co-produced by China Plate co-production, in partnership with English Touring Theatre, the premiere will form part of the Made in Northampton 2021 season.

The production will run at the Royal stage from Saturday 17 to Saturday 31 July.

With book and lyrics by April de Angelis (My Brilliant Friend, National Theatre; The Village, Theatre Royal Stratford East) and music and lyrics by Lucy Rivers (The Bloody Ballad, Gagglebabble; Father Christmas, Lyric Hammersmith) Gin Craze! is a booze-soaked love ballad from the women of Gin Lane.

A teaser shares: “Two lovers, each with hidden secrets, struggle to prosper as gin hawkers. At a time in the 18th century when the average Briton drank 1.5 litres of gin every day, women were being locked up in cells to sober up and disorder was breaking out on every street corner, panic spreads among the upper classes who look to the magistrates, the Church and even their tipsy Queen to restore sobriety.

“This raucous satire takes audiences on a journey through the joyous excesses of Hogarth’s Britain in an ingenious and irreverent new musical.”

The cast features Debbie Chazen (The Girls, West End), Rosalind Ford (Once, UK Tour), Aruhan Galieva (King John, Royal & Derngate and Shakespeare’s Globe), Paula James (The Snow Queen, Park Theatre), Alex Mugnaioni (Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, Rose Theatre Kingston and West End), Peter Pearson (Welcome to the UK, The Bunker), Paksie Vernon (The Watsons, Chichester Festival Theatre/Menier Chocolate Factory) and Rachel Winters (A Christmas Carol, Royal Shakespeare Company).

Gin Craze! is directed by Michael Oakley (Romeo and Juliet at Shakespeare’s Globe; The Life and Times of Fanny Hill, Bristol Old Vic) with design from Hayley Grindle (Iphigenia in Splott, Sherman Cymru and National Theatre), music supervision and arrangements from Tamara Saringer (The Wizard of Oz, Leeds Playhouse) and choreography from Paul Isles (Romeo and Juliet at Shakespeare’s Globe) as choreographer.

Lighting design is by Jack Knowles (Barber Shop Chronicles, National Theatre) and sound design is by Tony Gayle (Lazarus, Kings Cross Theatre). The production is produced by Royal & Derngate’s Musical Theatre producer Tess Dowdeswell.

Tickets are available to book online now via the Royal & Derngate website here.