As previously announced, Rufus Hound will take the lead as loveable chancer Francis Henshall. He will join new cast members Sam Alexander, Ian Burfield, Amy Cudden, Harry Kershaw, Kelly Price and Hugh Sachs. Martin Barrass will return to the production to play Alfie, and current cast members David Benson, Rhona Croker and Derek Elroy will continue. Mensah Bediako, Owen Brazendale, Gillian Budd, Max Hutchinson, Tom Lorcan, Aimee Parkes and Claire Sundin complete the ensemble.
Richard Bean’s award-winning version of Carlo Goldoni’s classic Italian comedy The Servant of Two Masters has songs by Grant Olding performed by The Craze. The physical comedy director on One Man, Two Guvnors is Cal McCrystal, with designs by Mark Thompson, lighting by Mark Henderson, sound design by Paul Arditti, fight direction by Kate Waters and choreography and associate direction by Adam Penford.
Fired from his skiffle band, Francis Henshall becomes minder to Roscoe Crabbe, a small time East End hood, now in Brighton to collect £6,000 from his fiancee’s dad. But Roscoe is really his sister Rachel posing as her own dead brother, who’s been killed by her boyfriend Stanley Stubbers. Holed up at the Cricketers’ Arms, the permanently ravenous Francis spots the chance of an extra meal ticket and takes a second job with one Stanley Stubbers, who is hiding from the police and waiting to be re-united with Rachel. To prevent discovery, Francis must keep his two guvnors apart. Simple.
Sam Alexander (Stanley Stubbers) was last on stage in No Naughty Bits at Hampstead Theatre. His other theatre credits include The Bacchae for the Royal Exchange Theatre and Hay Fever at Chichester Festival Theatre. He has also worked extensively for the Royal Shakespeare Company where his credits include Twelfth Night, Love’s Labour’s Lost and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. At Shakespeare’s Globe his credits include The Comedy of Errors, A Winter’s Tale and Troilus and Cressida. His television credits include Criminal Justice, Lewis, Skins, The Marchioness Disaster and Hamlet.
Martin Barrass (Alfie) returns to the Theatre Royal Haymarket to reprise his role as Alfie. His previous theatre credits include Peter Pan, Stan Laurel in Laurel and Hardy, The Railway Children and Toad in The Wind in the Willows all for the Theatre Royal York. He also appeared in Richard Bean’s Toast for Hull Truck Theatre Company. His television credits include Emmerdale, Angels and The Bill.
David Benson (Gareth) has been a member of the One Man, Two Guvnors company since its premiere at the National Theatre. His other theatre credits include Future Me for Theatre 503, Same Time Next Year for the Theatre Royal Winchester and Loot for Derby Playhouse. He has won two Fringe First awards for his one man shows Think No Evil of Us: My Life with Kenneth Williams and Lockerbie: Unfinished Business. His television credits include Bremner, Bird and Fortune and Goodnight Sweetheart.
Ian Burfield (Charlie Clench) has worked extensively in theatre, television and film. His previous National Theatre credits include The Comedy of Errors, The Kitchen, Napoli Milionaria, and Richard III. He also starred in Journey’s End at Playhouse Theatre and A Streetcar Named Desire at Bristol Old Vic. His extensive television credits include Way to Go, The Secret of Crickley Hall, Him & Her, Public Enemies, Merlin, New Tricks, My Family, Heartbeat and The Fixer. His film credits include Mercenaries, Acts of Godfrey, V for Vendetta, The International, Circus and The Krays.
Rhona Croker (Pauline) has been a member of the One Man, Two Guvnors company since September 2012. In 2008, Rhona toured the British comedy circuits with her show Croker & Jory: The Love Shepherds. Her other theatre credits include The Roman Bath at the Arcola Theatre, The Hub at Edinburgh’s Pleasance Theatre, Spyski at the Lyric Hammersmith, Pot Noodle: The Musical at the Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh, Playback at the Salisbury Playhouse as well as Cinderella and Twelfth Night both for the Cheltenham Everyman Theatre. Her television credits include The Wrong Door, Watson and Oliver, My Family and Micro Men and has appeared in the film Prometheus.
Amy Cudden’s (Rachel Crabbe) theatre credits include The Village Bike for Sheffield Theatre and Shallow Slumber for Soho Theatre. On television her credits include Doctor Who, Casualty and Phone Shop.
Derek Elroy (Lloyd) has been a member of the One Man, Two Guvnors company since its premiere at the National Theatre. Previously his theatre credits include The Harder They Come, Red Riding Hood and Aladdin for the Theatre Royal Stratford East, Dick Whittington and His Cat at the Barbican and I Was Looking at the Ceiling for Southwark Playhouse. His television credits include Rev, If…., Buried Treasure and The Bill. His film credits include Breakfast on Pluto and Bridget Jones’s Diary.
Rufus Hound (Francis Henshall) is currently playing Francis Henshall in the UK tour of One Man, Two Guvnors. He is best known as a comedian, TV and radio personality, where his work includes seven series of the award-winning Celebrity Juice, the BBC sitcom Hounded, 8 out of 10 Cats, Never Mind the Buzzcocks and ITV1 primetime hit comedy show Mad Mad World. He is soon to be seen in the second series of A Touch of Cloth for Sky. His radio credits include Act Your Age and My Teenage Diary for BBC Radio 4, as well as his own comedy show What’s So Funny. Hound’s film credits include Wedding Video and My Big Fat Gypsy Gangster. In addition Hound has presented Top of the Pops, Glastonbury Live and Out Take TV, all for the BBC.
Harry Kershaw (Alan Dangle), a recent RADA graduate, will be making his professional stage debut in One Man, Two Guvnors. His television credits include Switch, Endeavor and Wallander. On film he has appeared in Skyfall, Blue Monday and Great Expectations.
Kelly Price (Dolly) was last on stage in the West End at the Garrick Theatre in A Little Night Music which transferred from the Menier Chocolate Factory. Her other theatre credits include Company for Sheffield Theatres, Perchance to Dream for the Finborough Theatre, Stepping Out for Salisbury Playhouse, The Misanthrope at the Comedy Theatre, Chicago at the Cambridge Theatre, Guys and Dolls for the Donmar Warehouse, Mamma Mia at the Prince Edward Theatre and Woman in White at the Palace Theatre. Her television credits include Hollyoaks, Midsomer Murders, Waterloo Road and Accused. And on film she has been seen in A Bunch of Amateurs.
Hugh Sachs (Harry Dangle) was last on stage in A Woman Killed with Kindness at the National Theatre where he has previously appeared in Peter Pan. His other theatre credits include See How They Run at the Royal Exchange Theatre and Privates on Parade at the Donmar Warehouse. On television Sachs is best known for playing the role of Gavin in five series of Benidorm. His other television credits include Foyles War, My Family, The Catherine Tate Show, Rome and City of Vice. Amongst his film credits areYou Will Meet a Tall Stranger, The Nutcracker - The Untold Story, The Libertine and Mad Dogs and Englishmen.
Richard Bean’s plays include England People Very Nice for the National, The Heretic, Harvest (winner of the Critics’ Circle Award for Best New Play), Honeymoon Suite, Under the Whaleback and Toast for the Royal Court and The Big Fellah for Out of Joint at the Lyric Hammersmith and on tour. He adapted David Mamet’s House of Games and wrote a new version of The Hypochondriac for the Almeida Theatre. Bean won the 2011 Evening Standard Award for Best Play for One Man, Two Guvnors and The Heretic.
Since he became Director of the National in April 2003, Nicholas Hytner has directed Henry V, His Dark Materials, The History Boys, Stuff Happens, Henry IV, Southwark Fair, The Alchemist, The Man of Mode, The Rose Tattoo (with Stephen Pimlott), Rafta, Rafta… , Much Ado About Nothing, Major Barbara, England People Very Nice, Phèdre, The Habit of Art, London Assurance, Hamlet, Collaborators, Travelling Light ,Timon of Athens and People.
One Man, Two Guvnors opened at the National Theatre in May 2011. In November last year, after its first UK tour, the show opened in the West End at the Adelphi Theatre where it completed a sell out run. Since 2 March 2012 the show has been playing at the Theatre Royal Haymarket. The Broadway production of One Man, Two Guvnors recently completed its successful run at the Music Box Theater, where James Corden won the Tony Award for Best Actor. A second UK tour continues to February 2013 with the show embarking on an international tour immediately afterwards.