Rise & Shine

Cirencester’s Barn Theatre presents The Rise and Fall of Little Voice from 7th July to 4th August, concluding its inaugural season after two critically successful productions.

First produced in 1992, The Rise and Fall of Little Voice by Jim Chamberlain has been named one of the top 50 best plays of all time.

The play was nominated for six Olivier awards, winning three of them as well as the prestigious Evening Standard Award. Its film adaptation, Little Voice (1998) starring Jane Horrocks in the title role was also a huge hit receiving an Oscar nomination alongside numerous other awards for its screenplay and cast.

This production will be directed by Michael Strassen. The Barn’s artistic director Iwan Lewis says: “Little Voice is a modern British classic and it’s the perfect play to end our inaugural season. Michael Strassen is one of theatre’s great directors and it’s very exciting to welcome such excellent and prolific creatives to our theatre to bring his radical interpretation.”

The cast includes newcomer Sarah Louise Hughes in the title role. The play tells the heart-warming story of a reclusive Northern girl-next-door whose remarkable ability to impersonate the great singers gives her a chance to transcend her tragically unappealing domestic life. But pushed by a foul-mouthed, hard-drinking mother and coaxed into the limelight by her mother’s latest talent agent boyfriend, timid “Little Voice” will need to conquer more than just stage fright if she is to find her own voice in the world.

The Barn Theatre, Beeches Road, Cirencester, GL7 1BN. Call the box office on 01285 648255 and visit www.barntheatre.org.uk