Opening in Kirkcaldy on Wednesday 6th September, 2017, the show will celebrate 30 years entertaining audience across Scotland with a tour which takes in His Majesty’s Theatre, Aberdeen, Dundee Rep, Ayr Gaiety, Eden Court Inverness, the Macrobert Arts Centre Stirling, Kings Theatre Glasgow and the Kings Theatre Edinburgh.

The 30th Anniversary touring cast brings together Mary McCusker (reprising her role as Mrs Culfeathers from the 2012 production), Steven McNicoll (wrote and starred in seven series of the BAFTA Nominated BBC sketch show Velvet Soup), Libby McArthur (Gina Rossi in River City), Carmen Pieraccini (Kelly-Marie Adams in River City) and Fiona Wood (also reprising her role as Doreen from the 2012 production).

The Steamie is a Scottish theatre classic; an ode to the hard working women of the 1950’s and to a bygone Glasgow. The young Doreen envisions a new future, while Mrs Culfeathers looks back to the past - the play is a snapshot of a society, of a time and a cross section of strong women, all rolled up in Roper’s hilarious comedy. As The Scotsman said in 2012, it is a “wonderful pattern of humour, pathos, and laugh-out-loud comic set-pieces.”

The play is written by Tony Roper and produced by Neil Laidlaw, both alumni of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

Libby McArthur who plays Dolly is a well-known face having appeared in many popular Scottish television programmes. She is most famous for her role as Gina Hamilton in River City. In her time, she has had more than one Session with John Peel; ridden The Tube with Jools Holland and been usurped in her role as mother to her son by Liam Neeson and Jessica Lang in Rob-Roy. On television she has played wife to Ford Keirnan; daughter to Miriam Margoyles, Annie Ross and Johnny Beattie; sister to Andy Gray, Forbes Masson, and Bobby Carlyle and has even been taken advantage of by Stefan Dennis.

Mary McCusker is back reprising the role she loves from the 2012 production of the show, Mrs Culfeathers. She is best known for her work in films Turner & Hooch, The Client and Up. Her theatre credits include appearing in Miss Firecracker Contest, Al Franken & Tom Davis Show, Art of Self Defence and Twenty- Four Hours. In the 1990’s she switched from acting to coaching.

Steven McNicoll who stars as Andy wrote and starred in seven series of the BBC sketch show Velvet Soup on radio and later television, which earned him a BAFTA nomination. He is also known to viewers for playing the young Rab C Nesbitt in the series of the same name and appears regularly as Bra's Jeff in Donald McLeary and Sanjeev Kohli's Sony Award winning BBC Radio 4 sitcom Fags, Mags and Bags.

Carmen Pieraccini plays Magrit. She appeared briefly in the Gillies MacKinnon film Small Faces, the Saul Metzstein’s film Late Night Shopping, and the music video for the Belle and Sebastian single Jonathan David, before appearing in River City. She played Tina in the comedy series Dear Green Place, opposite Ford Kiernan. On stage, she appeared as an army private in the 2008 play An Advert for the Army.

Fiona Wood could not get enough of The Steamie and has returned to the show as Doreen, after appearing in the 2012 production. She is best known for her roles in films Money Kills, Sketchland and has just wrapped up filming short film, The Last Supper.

This is the third time Neil Laidlaw has produced a tour of The Steamie, first in 2009 and then the 25th Anniversary Tour in 2012. Neil said “The Steamie is one of the greatest Scottish plays – I am extremely proud to have had the opportunity to have been associated with it in the past and am now even more excited to be producing this 30th Anniversary celebration. We’ve brought together a fantastic cast of actors combining Mary McCusker reprising her wonderful portrayal of Mrs Culfeathers and Fiona Wood’s Doreen, with fresh faces down The Steamie with Libby McArthur, Stephen McNicoll and Carmen Pieraccini. I can’t wait to get into the rehearsal room and see another cast have a ball getting to know this play.”

Tony Roper (Scottish actor, comedian, writer, playwright and director) says “In my late forties I sat down with a biro and a jotter and wrote my first ever play. 30 years have since passed and The Steamie is still there, giving laughter and tears and touching that intangible something in an audience that has made it a favourite night out.”


Cast Biographies

Mary McCusker - Mrs Culfeathers

Mary is back reprising the role she loves from the 2012 production of the show. She is best known for her work in films Turner & Hooch, The Client and Up. Her theatre credits include appearing in Miss Firecracker Contest, Al Franken & Tom Davis Show, Art of Self Defence and Twenty- Four Hours. In the 1990’s she switched from acting to coaching.

Born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts, Mary studied acting, dance and musical theatre at the Boston Conservatory of Music. On the 1997 film, FOXFIRE, she was hired for the rehearsal period to work with the lead actresses. One of the actresses was Angelina Jolie, 19 years old, starring in her second film.

Steven McNicoll - Andy

Stephen wrote and starred in seven series of the BBC sketch show Velvet Soup on radio and later television, which earned him a BAFTA nomination. He is also known to viewers for playing the young Rab C Nesbitt in the series of the same name.

He also appears regularly as Bra's Jeff in Donald McLeary and Sanjeev Kohli's Sony Award winning BBC Radio 4 sitcom Fags, Mags and Bags. Mcnicoll has also presented 4 series of the educational programme Around Scotland for the BBC. McNicoll has co-written several plays for stage and radio.

Libby McArthur - Dolly

Libby has been cast in most of the well-known Scottish Televisions ‘home spun’ programmes. In the eighties and nineties, Libby indulged her love of comedy through ‘Redheads’ and the formation of the company ‘The Penny Mob’, which offered opportunities for her to write, perform and direct. She was with Kaye Adams in this capacity at ‘Scottish Woman’ on and off for seven years. Also making regular contributions to Radio, on both Eddie Mair and Fred McCauley shows.

In her time, she has had more than one Session with John Peel. Rode the Tube with Jools Holland. She has been usurped in her role as mother to her son, by Liam Neeson and Jessica Lang in Rob-Roy. On television she has played the role of wife to Ford Keiran, Fish and Andy Cameron; daughter to Miriam Margoyles, Gina Rossi in River City, Annie Ross and Johnny Beattie; sister to Andy Gray, Forbes Masson, and Bobby Carlyle and has even been taken advantage of by Stefan Dennis.

Carmen Pieraccini - Magrit

Carmen appeared briefly in the Gillies MacKinnon film Small Faces, the Saul Metzstein film Late Night Shopping, and the music video for the Belle and Sebastian single "Jonathan David", before appearing in River City. She also played Tina in the comedy series Dear Green Place, opposite Ford Kiernan. On stage, she appeared as an army private in the 2008 play An Advert for the Army.

Fiona Wood - Doreen

Fiona could also not get enough of The Steamie and has returned to the show after appearing in the tour in 2012. She is best known for her roles in films Money Kills, Sketchland and has just raped up filming short, The Last Supper.

Neil Laidlaw - Producer

http://www.neillaidlaw.co.uk/

Neil Laidlaw Productions is a commercial Producer and General Manager working across both new work and revivals in the West End and Broadway as well as UK and international touring. NLP will be Producing and General Managing the 30th Anniversary Tour of Tony Roper’s The Steamie in 2017. We also have a range of exciting new projects in development for 2017 and beyond.

NLP was recently one of the co-producers of the West End transfer from the Sheffield Crucible of Daniel Evans’ production of Show Boat. In 2015 the company was also co-producer of Gypsy starring Imelda Staunton which transferred from Chichester Festival Theatre to the Savoy Theatre, London and won four 2016 Olivier awards; for Best Actress (Imelda Staunton), Best Supporting Actress (Lara Pulver), Best Lighting Design (Mark Henderson) and Best Musical Revival. Other recent co-productions include the Young Vic’s A Doll’s House starring Hattie Morahan, at the Duke of York’s in the West End and BAM in New York – as well as the UK tour of Annie starring Craig Revel Horwood, Jodie Prenger and Lesley Joseph. The company also acted as General Manager for Catherine Schreiber Productions on the UK premiere of the Kander and Ebb musical The Scottsboro Boys at the Young Vic in Autumn 2013.

Other producing credits include Canned Laughter (Scottish Tour); The Steamie by Tony Roper (21st and 25thAnniversary Tours); Jigsy (UK Tour); Side by Side by Sondheim (Leicester Square Theatre, London); Beautiful Thing (Sound Theatre, Leicester Square, London – Evening Standard Best Newcomer award for Andrew Garfield); Hormonal Housewives (Scottish Tour); The Musical of Musicals – The Musical! (Sound Theatre, London and Kings Head Theatre, London) and Notes from Underground (Trafalgar Studios, London).

Tony Roper – Writer and Director

Tony Roper made a living as a miner, shipbuilder and brickie’s labourer before studying at the Glasgow College of Music and Drama. Recently he was made an Honorary Doctor of Letters by the University of Abertay and had a Lifetime Achievement Award presented at the Great Scot 2010 awards.

This Christmas Tony is appearing along with Gregor Fisher as the Ugly Sisters in Cinderella at the King’s Theatre Glasgow.

Acting credits include: everything from Ayckbourn to Shakespeare onstage and on television, numerous plays and comedy series, including Scotch and Wry, Naked Video, Only An Excuse and as Jamesie Cotter in BBC’s Rab C Nesbitt. Tony was last seen onstage in two sell out tours of Rikki and Me in which he played the iconic Rikki Fulton. This was subsequently released on DVD, produced by The Comedy Unit.

Writing: A request to write a play resulted in The Steamie originally produced by Wildcat Stage Productions which since its original six month run in 1987 is now Scotland’s most popular play and has been seen in various countries including England, Northern Ireland, USA, Finland, Newfoundland and Canada. The play won the Glasgow Mayfest Award and a Scottish Bafta for the Channel Four adaptation. Tony went on to write Paddie’s Market for the Tron Theatre, which resulted in two sellout tours of Scotland’s major theatres; Being Dead Means Never Having to Say You’re Sorry (Tron One Acts); Babes in the Wood - pantomime (Motherwell Civic Centre)and Rikki and Me co-written with Phillip Differ (Touring Scotland).

Television includes: The Steamie (Channel Four) - Scottish Bafta winner.

Radio includes: The Conversation Seat (BBC Short Stories).

Books include: Ricky Fulton’s Rev I.M. Jolly Journal in two volumes: Rev I.M. Jolly Volume 1: How I found God and Why He Was Hiding from Me and Rev I.M. Jolly Volume 2: One Deity at a Time Sweet Jesus (Black and White Publishing) and also The Steamie a Novel.

Jason Haigh Ellery – Co Producer

Jason founded Big Finish Productions in 1998 and the company has grown to be the largest independent producer of Audio Drama in the world, providing actors with over 9,000 roles and working regularly with media corporations such as the BBC, MGM and ABC on Doctor Who, Torchwood, Stargate, Judge Dredd, and on original series such as Graceless and The Confessions of Dorian Grey. In 2013, Big Finish won the BBC Audio Drama Award for Best Drama for Doctor Who.

In 2011, Jason founded animation house Planet 55 Studios in Sydney, Australia, working first with the BBC on two animated versions of Doctor Who. Planet 55 Studios have recently delivered the original 26 part drama Prisoner Zero for ABC – a series created by Jason. Four other shows are in development for Disney, Toon Goggles and ABC.

In television, Big Finish Entertainment has produced two reality shows – Nadia Goes to Hollywood and Nadia: Chasing the Dream for TV3 and been involved with reality shows Strictly Dance Fever (BBC) and Fame – the Musical (RTE).

A new teen television drama called Every Saturday Night has been created by Jason and developed with David Devjak (Home and Away). The pilot is being shot on the Central Coast for an Australian broadcaster in September 2016.

Theatrical Producing credits on Tour include Henry V, As You Like It, Days of Hope, Tomorrow Morning, Spring Awakening, By Jeeves, Snoopy the Musical, Love Shack, High Society, Fly me to the Moon, Debbie Does Dallas – the Musical, Teenage Kicks, The Steamie, Guess How much I love You?, The Wedding Singer, West End Men, Fame – the Musical (Eire), Yes Prime Minister, Marilyn and Sinatra, The Ladykillers, Never Forget and Footloose – the Musical

In the West End, Jason has produced Life Coach, Wolfboy, Footloose – the Musical, Shout!, A Christmas Carol, Third Floor, Shoshana Bean at the Ambassadors Theatre, Idina Menzel at the Royal Albert Hall, The Whatsonstage Theatregoer Awards (since 2007), Never Forget –The Take That Musical, West End Men, Yes Prime Minister (Theatregoer Award – Best New Comedy), The Ladykillers (4 Olivier nominations), The Donkey Show and the sell-out West End debut of Nicholas Hoult in New Boy.

Set & Costume Design - Kenny Miller
Lighting Design - Colin Grenfell
Sound Design - Paul Smith for Apex Acoustics

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