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  • Monday, 22nd March 2010
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The Grand Theatre Blackpool

EXCITING NEW LEAD FOR SAUCY COMEDY AT BLACKPOOL'S GRAND

Show Details

02-07-2009 | Author:

The Royal’s Linda Armstrong will now lead the cast
in the wonderfully wicked
The Tart and the Vicar’s Wife
at Blackpool’s Grand Theatre from 27th July

This racy revival of Joan Shirley’s hilarious tale promises an excellent evening’s entertainment intertwined with a topical ‘credit-crunch’ theme!

Smash hit social comedy The Tart and the Vicar’s Wife calls into Blackpool’s Grand Theatre from Monday 27th July to Wednesday 29th July as part of a long-awaited UK tour starring Linda Armstrong (The Royal, Doctors), Matt Healy - best known for his role of bad boy Matthew King in Emmerdale and Brookside regular Marcus Hutton (Nathan Cuddington).

Due to intense commitments with the reunion tour of the Nolan Sisters, Bernie Nolan has unfortunately had to step down from the lead role in the new tour of The Tart and the Vicar's Wife. Her part will now be played by The Royal’s Linda Armstrong. Linda has played Sister Brigid in the hugely popular ITV drama since it began and is currently on screen every Sunday at 7pm.

Affluent business man Robert and his glamorous wife Glenda enjoy all the trappings of wealth and success. Then Robert is delivered unscathed from an horrendous car crash and decides to turn his back on the high life and devote himself to God by becoming a vicar.

Glenda suddenly finds herself thrust into a complete transformation, struggling to make ends meet and dealing with her new identity crisis.

When Robert leaves for a four-week seminar, Glenda turns to her friends for support, all of whom are in similar financial distress.

Then a millionaire lottery winner turns up in the village to seek the reverend’s help in exorcising his haunted manor house. He meets Glenda and her friends instead who end up baring their souls to him and discovering just how far they will go for money!

Ian Dickens Productions present this racy revival of Joan Shirley’s hilarious tale which promises an excellent evening’s entertainment intertwined with a topical ‘credit-crunch’ theme!

The Tart and the Vicar’s Wife stars Linda Armstrong (The Royal’s Sister Brigid), Matt Healy (Emmerdale’s Matthew King) and Marcus Hutton (Brookside’s Nathan Cuddington) and is at Blackpool’s Grand Theatre from Monday 27th July to Wednesday 29th July.
Monday at 8pm, Tuesday at 7.30pm and Wednesday at 2pm and 7.30pm.

Tickets from £10.50
Great group rates, Concession and Friends of the Grand discount available.

Book your seats now by calling the Grand Theatre Box Office on 01253 290190, online at www.blackpoolgrand.co.uk or at the new Grand Theatre information sales point in the Houndshill Shopping Centre.


Keep right up to date with all the latest special ticket offers, discounts and new shows at Blackpool’s Grand Theatre with our innovative new TEXT service:

• For what’s on this week at Blackpool’s Grand Theatre simply text GRAND to 82055.
• For the latest ticket deals text DEALS to 82055. Standard text rates apply.


Don’t forget - Parking is available at a discounted rate at the secure West Street Car Park, directly opposite the theatre’s entrance. Book your parking ticket when you book your show tickets from the Box Office and you can have parking from 5.30pm until 12.30am for only £2.50!

Ends…


Notes for Editors:

The cast of The Tart and the Vicar’s Wife are now available for interview



Linda Armstrong – Glenda Parry
Linda is probably best known for her portrayal of the Irish nursing nun, Sister Brigid, in the popular hospital drama The Royal, which is now in its eighth season and can currently be seen on ITV1 on Sunday nights at 7pm.
Linda trained at RADA. Her recent theatre includes Amanda in Private Lives co-directed by Ellis Jones and Dominic Colenso on board the world famous Cunard ocean liners Queen Mary 2 & Queen Elizabeth 2 throughout their joint world cruise. She first joined this company on the QM2 for their Transatlantic and Norwegian voyages playing Jane in Fallen Angels and Lady Anne in Richard III.
Other roles include Anthea in Joking Apart and Judy in Sweet Revenge both at Windsor Theatre Royal, Eileen Midway in Semi Detached and Annie Wobbler at Nottingham Lace Market. She has also performed with the resident Comedy Store Players at The Comedy Store London.
She recently appeared as Alice Blunt in Doctors and Jo Lyons in Casualty for the BBC. Other TV work includes guest and semi regular roles in The Bill, Bugs, Mill On the Floss, The Vanishing Man, Rough Treatment , Brookside, Tess Of the D’urbervilles, Touch of Frost, Millenium Timebomb, Casualty, EastEnders and Dangerfield.


Matt Healy – Joe Carpenter
Matt is best known for his role of bad boy Matthew King in Emmerdale - a role he played for five years until 2008 when Matt King was tragically killed on his wedding day. Matt’s television credits prior to that include Holby City, Playing the Field, Coronation Street, Mersey Beat, Lenny Henry in Pieces, Love in the 21st Century, The Things You Do For Love, Cardiac Arrest, Heartbeat, Between the Lines, Cuts and Medics.
Matt has also enjoyed tremendous success on the stage. He toured the UK playing a gay stripper in Rita Sue and Bob Too, and after leaving Emmerdale went on to play Clyde in The Murder Game at the Kings Head Theatre. He is just about to start filming the feature film Bogfather.



Marcus Hutton – Robert Parry
Marcus is best known for playing the regular character Nathan Cuddington in Channel 4’s Brookside and recently in Hollyoaks.
He trained at The Guildhall School of Music and Drama and worked mostly in theatre for the first nine years of his career. Companies included The Gate, The Manchester Royal Exchange, The Wolsey Ipswich, Riverside Studios, Theatre Royal Stratford East, The Oxford Playhouse Company, The Exeter Northcott, The Horseshoe Basingstoke and many more.
Television appearances include Dr Who, Love Hurts, The New Professionals, The Inspector Alleyn Mysteries, Crocodile Shoes and Smack The Pony as well as many commercials and corporate films.
Marcus also has a second career as a voice-over artist. He took a break from acting from 2002-2007 in order to look after his young children. During this time he moved to Tuscany, where he worked as a voice-over artist from his own studio. Marcus has now amassed over 5,000 radio and television commercial voice-over credits. Other recent voice-over work includes playing 13 characters in the re-mastered for DVD Caprino Fairy Tales animation series and appearing twice as The Duke of Buckingham in the Dr Who Audio Series. Marcus has now returned to the UK with his family.
He was last seen at Blackpool’s Grand in February 2009 in the captivating crime tale Murder With Love.



For further Grand Theatre press information, interviews, images or review tickets please call:
Sarah Jane Wright
Press Officer
Grand Theatre, Blackpool
01253 743252
Email: sarahjane@blackpoolgrand.co.uk