PlayWell Productions, Team Angelica and Epicene have announced the full cast for Very Special Guest Star which opens at Omnibus Theatre on 25 November, with previews from 23 November, and runs until 12 December.
Following sold-out runs of Undetectable and My Dad’s Gap Year, playwright Tom Wright’s darkly comedic and wildly sexy play follows a suburban gay couple trying to get in with Gen Z. Rikki Beadle-Blair directs Jonny Khan (Quasim), Edd Muruako (Phil), and Alan Turkington (Michael).
The show runs at Omnibus Theatre from 23 November – 12 December.
Full casting details below:
Tom Wright is a writer, director, dramaturg and producer. He is currently the New Work Associate at Kiln Theatre and previously Head of Artist Development at The Old Vic. His two back-to-back debut plays Undetectable and My Dad’s Gap Year were nominated for seven Off West End Awards including Best New Play and Most Promising Playwright. His next play I Ain’t Dumb will premiere at the Belgrade Theatre as part of UK City of Culture celebrations in his hometown of Coventry.
His writing credits include Undetectable (King’s Head Theatre), My Dad’s Gap Year (Park Theatre) and Rebel Song (The Other Palace); and as a director include Blowhole (Pleasance Theatre), Dumbledore Is So Gay (Vault Festival, Origins Award Winner) and Tumble Tuck (King’s Head Theatre/Underbelly Edinburgh/Soho Theatre/Old Vic New Voices). His writing and directing credits include Sirens and White Lies (ArtsEd). His film credits include Stockholm and Kweenship.
Rikki Beadle-Blair MBE is a writer, director, composer, choreographer, designer, producer and performer working in the film, theatre, television and radio. Having written and directed 40 plays over the last 20 years along with several feature films, shorts and tv episodes and series, he has won several awards including the Sony Award, the Los Angeles Outfest Screenwriting and Outstanding Achievement awards. Beadle-Blair’s passion for encouraging creativity and business sense in others has made a committed and effective mentor to a great many writers, actors, composers and directors around the world.
Jonny Khan plays Quasim. His theatre credits include Unite: It’s Not as Simple as Black and White (New Vic Theatre), Level Up (Bush Theatre), Honeymoon (Kiln Theatre), Dungeness (Theatre Royal Stratford East), Order From Chaos (Greenside Edinburgh Fringe), Yen (Nottingham New Theatre) and Mercury Fur (Theatre Oikos).
Edd Muruako plays Phil. His theatre credits include Free Mandela, Fahrenheit 451, Life and Death of Martin Luther King (TNT Theatre Britain), The Home (Albany Theatre), The Wind in the Willows (Polka Theatre), The Wizard of Oz (Redbridge Drama Centre), Wonderland (Hampstead Theatre), The Shock Exchange (Bush Theatre), Magnetic (Theatre Royal Stratford East), The Comedy of Errors, How Lion Became the King of Tinga Tinga Land (UK tours), The AA Team (Actors Centre), Too Much Punch for Judy (APE Theatre Company), Silver Shores (Tristan Bates Theatre) and TwothousandSex, Screwface (Drill Hall). For film, his credits include Kerry, Soho, Bloodless, Fat Cat, and Chasing Robert Barker.
Alan Turkington plays Michael. His theatre credits include My Night With Reg (Turbine Theatre), Antony and Cleopatra (National Theatre), The Lady With a Dog (White Bear Theatre), In the Bar of a Tokyo Hotel (Charing Cross Theatre), The First Man (Jermyn Street Theatre), Courting Drama: What If (Theatre Renegade), John Ferguson, Gates of Gold (Finborough Theatre), Bright Skin Light (Drayton Arms Theatre), Angelic Tales: Three (Theatre Royal Stratford East), Stars in the Morning Sky (Belgrade Theatre, Coventry), Lagan (Root Theatre), Afterthought (Word for Word), Hamlet (Donmar West End/Broadhurst Theatre), Sweet Bird of Youth (Dundee Rep), A Cry From Heaven (The Abbey Theatre), John Bull’s Other Island (Tricycle Theatre), The Tempest, The Winter’s Tale, Pericles (Royal Shakespeare Company), The Santaland Diaries (Union Theatre), A View from the Bridge (Harrogate Theatre) Touch (Tristan Bates Theatre) and What If (Theatre Renegade/Southwark Playhouse). For television, Heartstopper, Mrs. Wilson, Rellik, X Company, Mr. Selfridge, Strike Back, 10 Days To War, Hollyoaks, Spying On Hitler’s Army and Hollyoaks as series regular Eoghan Nolan; and for film, My Night with Reg, Mary Queen of Scots, King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, Nine Vaults, Drone, Door out of the Dark, Pure, Dad’s Army, The Man from U.N.C.L.E and Implementation.
Natalie Johnson is the set and costume designer. Her credits include as a designer include Flinch (UK Tour), Dumbledore Is So Gay (The Pleasance), 39 & Counting (Park Theatre), John & Jen (Southwark Playhouse), Macbeth (Theatrepeckham), The Rage of Narcissus (The Pleasance), The Shadow (Home MCR), Tick Tick Boom (Bridge House Theatre), Bluebeard (Alphabetti Theatre), Catching Comets (The Pleasance), Twelfth Night (Bridge House Theatre/Globe Neuss, Germany), Mydidae (Hope Mill Theatre), Striking 12 (Union Theatre), Putting It Together (Hope Mill Theatre), Eris (The Bunker), To Anyone Who Listens (Hen and Chickens), The Wasp (Hope Mill Theatre), Othello (Everyman Theatre); and as associate designer Last Easter (Orange Tree Theatre), Everything Is Absolutely Fine (The Lowry) and Forgotten (Arcola Theatre and Theatre Royal Plymouth).
