Orange Tree Theatre today announce the full casts for Shaw Shorts: How He Lied to Her Husband and Overruled – a double bill of Bernard Shaw’s short plays directed by Artistic Director Paul Miller. Miller directs Joe Bolland (Henry Apjohn), Jordan Mifsúd (Teddy Bompas), Dorothea Myer-Bennett (Aurora Bompas) in How He Lied to Her Husband; and Alex Bhat (Gregory Lunn), Jordan Mifsúd (Sibthorpe Juno), Dorothea Myer-Bennett (Mrs Lunn) and Hara Yannas (Mrs Juno) in Overruled. The production opens on 26th May, with previews from 22nd May, and runs until 26th June. It will be streamed live via OT On Screen on 3rd and 4th June.
In How He Lied to Her Husband, Aurora is concerned about what has happened to the poems written for her by her admirer, the impetuous Henry, and fears they may get into the hands of husband Teddy. Henry suggests they confess the truth and go to the theatre as planned… to see Bernard Shaw’s Candida. Then Henry arrives home.
Overruled sees two strangers fall in love at sea. Both married they decide they must part, but then are surprised to find their spouses at a hotel together. They’ve fallen for each other too. Do they stay together or swap?
Two short plays by Bernard Shaw, directed by Artistic Director Paul Miller following his hugely successful OT productions of Shaw’s Candida, Misalliance, The Philanderer and Widowers’ Houses.
Completing the creative team is Designer Simon Daw, Lighting Designer Mark Doubleday, and Composer Elizabeth Purnell.
Bernard Shaw wrote more than sixty plays in his lifetime, including Man and Superman, Pygmalion, Saint Joan, Major Barbara, Heartbreak House, and The Doctor’s Dilemma. Shaw was awarded the 1925 Nobel Prize in Literature.
Alex Bhat’s previous credits with the company include French Without Tears. Other theatre credits include Sweet Bird of Youth (Chichester Festival Theatre), Henry V (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre), and Dr Angelus (Finborough Theatre). His television credits include Des, Hanna, Chewing Gum, War and Peace, Devils, Game Face, London Kills and Fungus the Bogeyman. For film, credits include Deep Blue Sea 3 and Halo: Nightfall.
Joe Bolland’s theatre credits include Paper Cut (Theatre503). His television credits include The Trial of Christine Keeler, and for film, Curs>r, and Martyr’s Lane.
Jordan Mifsúd’s credits for the company include While the Sun Shines, Misalliance, and The Widowing of Mrs Holroyd. His other theatre credits include Much Ado About Nothing (Shakespeare’s Globe), Pride and Prejudice (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, UK tour), The Silver Tassie (National Theatre), Our Ajax (Southwark Playhouse), In Your Image (Soho Theatre), Moth (Bush Theatre, HighTide), Thatcherwrite (Theatre503), 55 Days (Hampstead Theatre), and The Two Worlds of Charlie F (Theatre Royal Haymarket). His television credits include Whitstable Pearl, The Bay, and The Looming Tower. For film, credits include RISK, Kingsman: The Golden Circle, and The Siege of Jadotville.
Dorothea Myer-Bennett’s credits for the company include While the Sun Shines, and The Philanthropist. Her other theatre credits includes Leopoldstadt (Wyndham’s Theatre), Holy Sh!t (Kiln Theatre), Much Ado About Nothing, Arcadia, As You Like It, King Lear, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, The Cherry Orchard, The Comedy of Errors (Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory), The Merchant of Venice, Pericles (Shakespeare’s Globe), Richard III, Uncle Vanya (West Yorkshire Playhouse), This Was a Man (Finborough Theatre), The Misanthrope (Bristol Old Vic), The Fitzrovia Radio Hour (Edinburgh Festival Fringe, New Diorama Theatre), The Spire (Salisbury Playhouse), Present Laughter (UK tour), Transparency (Ransom Theatre), She Stoops to Conquer (Birmingham Rep), and Restoration (Headlong). Her television credits include Around the World in 80 Days, Plastic People, and Judge the Obscure/Dead Man Talking. For film, credits include The Honourable Rebel, The Orchard, and The Payback.
Hara Yannas’ credits for the company include Amsterdam, and Dealing with Clair. Her other theatre credits include The Welkin (National Theatre), Uncle Vanya (HOME Manchester), The Treatment, The House of Bernarda Alba (Almeida Theatre), Oresteia (Almeida Theatre, Trafalgar Studios), 1984 (Headlong, Almeida Theatre, Playhouse Theatre, US tour), Mare Rider (Arcola Theatre), Britannicus (Wilton’s Music Hall), Pericles (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre), Uncle Vanya (Arcola Theatre, Belgrade Theatre), Tales of the Harrow Road (Soho Theatre), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Shakespeare’s Globe, UK & European tour), it felt empty when the heart went at first but it is alright now (Arcola Theatre, Clean Break). Her television credits include Silent Witness, Dark Heart, Trauma, Innocent, Broadchurch, The Level, Father Brown, The Musketeers, Law & Order: UK, The Smoke and The Bible.
Paul Miller has been Artistic Director of the Orange Tree since 2014, where he has directed Jo Clifford’s Losing Venice, Charlotte Jones’ Humble Boy, Bernard Shaw’s Misalliance, The Philanderer and Widowers’ Houses, Lot Vekemans’ Poison, Marivaux’s The Lottery of Love, Somerset Maughan’s Sheppey, Terence Rattigan’s French Without Tears (also tour with English Touring Theatre), Doris Lessing’s Each His Own Wilderness and The Widowing of Mrs Holroyd by DH Lawrence. Between 2009 and 2014 he was an Associate Director at Sheffield Theatres. He directed Macbeth at Chichester Festival Theatre in 2019, and for the National Theatre he has directed The History Boys (revival for the West End and UK tour), Baby Girl by Roy Williams, DNA by Dennis Kelly, The Miracle by Lin Coghlan, The Enchantment by Victoria Benedictsson, Sing Yer Heart Out for the Lads by Roy Williams, and The Associate by Simon Bent.
Orange Tree Theatre
1 Clarence Street, Richmond, TW9 2SA
Box Office: 020 8940 3633
22nd May – 26th June
Mon – Sat (not Mon 31st May)
Audio Described performance: Mon 21st June 7.30pm
Captioned performance: Tue 22nd June 7.30pm
The plays can be seen separately or together as a double bill, with each play around 40 minutes.
Check www.orangetreetheatre.co.uk for the full performance schedule.
Tickets: £15 for one play or £25 for both plays or double-bill performances
Under 30s: £15