BETTY! A SORT OF MUSICAL is brand-new production, written by and starring Maxine Peake and Seiriol Davies, and directed by former Royal Exchange Artistic Director Sarah Frankcom. Peake and Frankcom have established a formidable creative partnership, developing some of Manchester’s most groundbreaking stage work from THE SKRIKER to THE MASQUE OF ANARCHY and most recently THE NICO PROJECT.
Joining them for BETTY! A SORT OF MUSICAL is the award-winning writer, composer, and performer Seiriol Davies. The cast is completed by Carla Henry, Lena Kaur, Joan Kempson and Eva Scott.
Sharp and funny, BETTY! is a celebration of the human spirit, a joyful and uplifting reflection of the gumption, bravery and strength it takes to speak out. Opening on Saturday 3 December the production runs until 14 January 2023.
It’s set in a small village hall where the Dewsbury Players (Yorkshire’s most passionate, dedicated and inventive amateur-dramatics society) have come together to celebrate their most eminent local hero, Dewsbury-born Betty Boothroyd, the first female Speaker of the House. Meredith, her daughter Angela, three equally devoted women (and Calvin), are ready to create the most awesome musical Yorkshire has ever seen.
Emboldened by their heroine’s indefatigable tenacity, this amateur group prove themselves to be extraordinary women on and off stage. At a time when everything seems so polarised, BETTY is a celebration and for the Dewsbury Players it is a tribute to the unexpected rewards that can come from thinking outside of the dispatch box.
Opens Dec 3: Tickets and details https://www.royalexchange.co.uk/whats-on-and-tickets/betty-a-sort-of-musical
Stagey Lady 