In The Press
Annie's set to go down a storm
From The Bath Chronicle Thu 17 Apr, 2008
Annie’s set to go down a Storm
From The Bath Chronicle 17 April 2008 If you went to one of the Storm on the Lawn performances of Electra back in 2000 you will probably have been hugely impressed by the performance of the girl who played the title role in the Theatre Royal Bath Young People’s production at Prior Park. So you probably won’t be too surprised to learn that the former Bath schoolgirl Annie Hemingway is back in her home city next week on the main stage at the Theatre Royal in her second professional production. Straight from RADA Annie, 22 whose parents still live in Bath, went directly into London’s West End to star in a new play written by a young Iraqi about the war which played to considerable interest from the national press in Soho. When that finished, she auditioned for a key part in a Birmingham Repertory Theatre production of Oliver Goldsmith’s She Stoops to Conquer to play alongside Liza Godard and former Doctor Who Colin Baker – which she got. Annie arrives back in Bath on Monday playing Constance Neville, a key player in one of the two plots that run side by side through the 18th century play. Annie has been with the play for more than six months and it finally closes at the end of the week here in Bath. If the name Annie Hemingway doesn’t strike an immediate chord try Annie Graham-Brown. Annie, who went to the Royal High School, changed her name to her grandmother’s maiden name because she felt it tripped more neatly off the tongue in the theatre world. Says Annie: ‘It has been a wonderful seven months playing with so many experienced actors. After next week I have a week off and am going to Madrid for a short holiday.” Annie moved to Bath with her parents at the age of 14 and got involved with the Theatre Royal Bath Young People’s Theatre after auditioning for Storm on the Lawn. She says she knew from an early that she wanted to act. She Stoops to Conquer is the story of class, courtship and dysfunctional families and revolves round the adventures of a young man who is painfully shy with women of his own standing but positively cocksure with barmaids. However his intended is a young lady who is quite prepared to play the barmaid to get her man. The play is also the story of a practical joker, whose wits are sharpened beyond compare when he finds himself heading towards the altar. Oliver Goldsmith’s 18th-century comedy charts the exploits of Charles Marlow and George Hastings, and their attempts to court Kate Hardcastle and her friend Constance Neville. A number of delightful deceits, clever schemes, comic ruses and hilarious turns of plot must be played out if the two pending marriages are to conclude happily. Along the way, there is an abundance of merry mix-ups, bawdy dialogue, much sly satire of the times and one of the great comic characters of the stage, Tony Lumpkin. Leading the cast are two of the country’s most accomplished theatre and television actors. Liza Godard first came to public attention in the hugely successful series, Take Three Girls and went on to star in the long-running BBC series Bergerac. She was also a central character in the Emmy award-winning children’s television series Woof. Joining her as Squire Hardcastle is one time Doctor Who, Colin Baker, one of the country’s most popular actors, best known for his contrasting roles in two of the BBC’s most successful television programmes. In the popular drama The Brothers, he played Paul Merroney and in Doctor Who, he was the flamboyant sixth incarnation of the Doctor. The play runs from Monday to Saturday with tickets from £14 to £28.50 from the box office on 01225 448844. Or visit www.theatreroyal.org.uk
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