30 JANUARY – 15 March 2025

A BUILT BY BARN PRODUCTION
in association with SIMON FRIEND and BOB & CO

A ROLE TO DIE FOR

Written By Jordan Waller
Directed By Olivier Award Winner Derek Bond
Starring Olivier Award Winner Janie Dee

 

CASTING THE WORLD’S MOST FAMOUS SPY IS NO LAUGHING MATTER

A BUILT BY BARN WORLD PREMIERE

“Rip-roaring, wickedly funny comedy”

 

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ – Wilts & Glos Standard

★ ★ ★ ★ – The Telegraph

★ ★ ★ ★ – Mail on Sunday

★ ★ ★ ★ – West End Best Friend

Deborah (Janie Dee) has a problem. She’s responsible for casting the most famous role in Hollywood but the actor she chooses suddenly withdraws the day before the announcement. As the film starts shooting straight away, time is short to find a replacement. Her cousin wants to sell out, her son insists on going woke, and all she yearns for is the warm glow of Sean Connery’s unbeatable charm.

 

A Role to Die For is a rip-roaring, wickedly funny comedy full of secret agents, secret agreements and secret family feuds. Directed by 2024 Olivier Award winning Derek Bond, starring Olivier Award winner Janie Dee and produced in association with Simon Friend and Bob & Co.

The perfect tonic for the January blues.

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DETAILS

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Age Guidance

14+
Contains strong language & adult themes.

RUNNING TIME

Act 1 – 45 minutes
Interval – 20 minutes
Act 2 – 30 minutes

PROGRAMME

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Cast

Janie Dee

as Deborah

Philip Bretherton

as Malcolm

Harry Goodson-Bevan

as Quinn

Kit Esuruoso

as Theo

Peter McPherson

as Richard

View all cast biographies

Janie Dee

as ‘Deborah’

Janie Dee is an award-winning British actress celebrated for her extraordinary versatility across stage, film, television, and radio. A two-time Olivier Award winner as Best Actress for her performance in Alan Ayckbourn’s Comic Potential (Lyric Theatre/New York) and Best Supporting performance in Carousel (National Theatre).  Janie also received Olivier nominations for her Phyllis in Follies (National Theatre), Edith in My One and Only and Miranda in NSFW (Royal Court). She won Best UK Performance for her Dolly Levi in Hello Dolly at Curve, Leicester and the Evening Standard Best Actress and Critics Circle Best Actress for Comic Potential
Other Theatre credits: Laughing Boy (Jermyn Street)(Offie nomination);Old Friends (Gielgud Theatre and BBC winning the Whats on Stage Award for best theatre event  ); The Motive and the Cue (National Theatre- Best New Play Critics Circle Award); The Grass is Greener with , Tom Conti(Theatre Royal Windsor); An Hour and a Half Late(Theatre Royal Bath ) opposite Griff Rhys Jones; Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike(Theatre Royal Bath and Charing Cross Theatre); Jamie Lloyd’s Pinter 4 – Moonlight / Night School (Pinter Theatre); Monogamy (Park Theatre), Follies(National Theatre); Hand to God, The Seagull (Regent’s Park); Dream Queen (Sam Wanamaker Playhouse for the London Festival of Cabaret); Shadowlands opposite Charles Dance at Wyndhams Theatre ,London.
Also at the National Theatre:- Helen of Troy in The Women of Troy directed by Annie Casteldine in the Olivier, Julie in Johnny on a Spot by Charles Macarthur opposite Mark Strong and directed by Sir Richard Eyre
Ah, Wilderness! (The Young Vic); 84 Charing Cross Road(Salisbury Playhouse);Desiree in  A Little Night Music (Palace Theatre);With Shakespeare’s Globe she played the Countess of Roussillon All’s Well that End’s Well at The Globe, Titania in A Midsummer Night’s Dream(Russia and China)and Cleopatra at the Hollywood Bowl with the  LA Philharmonic conducted by Bramwell Tovey and at The Barbican /BBC recording conducted by  Sakari Oramo.
Ruth in Blythe Spirit with Angela Lansbury (Gielgud Theatre); Putting It Together (St James Theatre); Noises Off (Old Vic and West End); Private Lives(Nottingham Playhouse); ; Arkadina in The Seagull, Olivia in Twelfth Night, Lady Capulet in Romeo and Juliet (Regent’s Park); With Sir Peter Hall  – Kate in Old Times (Theatre Royal, Bath/National tour); Orinthia in the Apple Cart , Gilda in Design for Living, Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing (Theatre Royal, Bath); Emma in Betrayal (West End).
Television credits: 
The Burning Girls(Netflix/Paramount),  You&Me (Channel 4) Chimerica( Lucy Kirkwood) , Crashing( Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Channel 4/Netflix) Pinter’s Celebration ( Channel 4 opposite Colin Firth) South Bank – Harold Pinter: A Celebration, PD James’ The Murder Room and Death in Holy Orders ( BBC opposite Martin Shaw as Emma Lavenham)
Film credits: Official Secrets, The Trouble With Dot and Harry, Dare to be Wild, Me and Orson Welles.

Philip Bretherton

as ‘Malcolm’

Philip trained at the University of Manchester, earning a Joint Honours degree in English and Drama. He was an Associate Artist at Theatr Clwyd under the direction of Terry Hands.
Theatre Credits Include: How the Other Half Loves (Salisbury Playhouse); Dracula (national tour); Tony’s Last Tape (one-man show as Tony Benn – Nottingham Playhouse, Clapham Omnibus, national tour, Houses of Parliament); Twilight Song (Park Theatre); The National Joke (SJT Scarborough); Somewhere in England, As You Like It, Blackthorn, God of Carnage, Pygmalion, Noises Off, An Ideal Husband, Present Laughter, Blithe Spirit, The Importance of Being Earnest (Theatr Clwyd); Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Six Degrees of Separation (Royal Exchange, Manchester); Life After Scandal (Hampstead Theatre); Private Lives (Glasgow Citizens’); St Joan (Birmingham Rep).
TV Credits Include: Alistair in nine series of As Time Goes By, Coronation Street, Footballers’ Wives (series 1 & 2), Casualty, Strikeback, Midsomer Murders, Inspector Morse, The Syndicate.
Film Credits Include: The Fifth Estate, Dark Floors, Cry Freedom.
Voiceover Credits Include: Over 100 audiobooks, video games including Narrator in The Plucky Squire and Uncle Alfiein Clockwork Revolution.

 

Harry Goodson-Bevan

as ‘Quinn’

Theatre Credits: Harry Potter and The Cursed Child (West End); Saturday Night Fever (UK Tour); Robin Hood (Saffron Hall)
Film Credits: High Wire; The Longest Distance; Tough Luck; Mothers and Daughters.

 

Kit Esuruoso

as ‘Theo’  

Film Credits include: Tom in Lure; Akoni in Akoni and Sonny Silver in Giddy Stratospheres.

Theatre Credits include: Bobby in The Land of Might Have Been (Buxton International Festival); Sheriff Schmid in Bonnie & Clyde (West End); Bernardo in West Side Story (Opéra national du Rhin); Otto/Understudy Moritz and Fight Supervisor in Spring Awakening (Almeida Theatre); Martin Luther King/Skills Ensemble in Satyagraha (English National Opera); Justin in Love Letters (Queens Theatre Hornchurch); Big Deal/Cover Riff in West Side Story (Royal Exchange Theatre); Nathan in Quantum (Edinburgh Fringe); Arius in Creed (Workshop); Julius Caesar in Cleopatra (The Actors’ Church); Craig Turner in Tina the Musical (Original West End Cast); Bayite/Cover Fezile in Tiger Bay (Wales Millennium Centre); Junior Physician/ Martin/BBC Radio Journalist/ Tom/ Charon/ William Colvin in Mark Colvin’s Kidney (Belvoir Theatre and Parramatta – Sydney Australia); Cover Joe/Stevedores in Show Boat (West End and Sheffield Crucible) and Ensemble in The Last Days of Troy (Shakespeare’s Globe)

Radio Credits include: Narrator in Sign Language is My Language (BBC Radio 3); Amuba in The Cat of Bubastes; Charity Voiceover for Rob Jorgenson and Mosi in Holding Esther (BBC/ Gap Digital).

TV Credits include: Yinka in #Honesty and Tony Cornelius in Autopsy (ITV)

Concert Credits include: Soloist in A Night Full Of Song; Soloist in Mountview 70th Anniversary Concert; Vocalist in Elaine Page – Royal Albert Hall.

Short Film Credits include: Errol in The Studio and Benji in Dave’s Dead.

Peter McPherson

as ‘Richard’  

Peter is a multi-skilled British actor who has appeared in leading roles in the West End, on National tours, on television and in film and is known for his commitment to equality and inclusivity particularly in the LGBTQ+ community and was recently invited to 10 Downing Street for his continued support. Peter is also proficient in sign language.

Trained: Drama Centre

Theatre Credits: Afterglow (Southwark Playhouse); Hello Norma Jeane (Par Theatre); Sweet Charity (Manchester Royal Exchange); Evita (Dominion); Wuthering Heights (Baron’s Court); 9 to 5 (UK Tour); Jesus Christ Superstar (UK Tour); Wonderful Town (Manchester Royal Exchange/UK Tour).

TV Credits: Smoggie Queens; Hollyoaks; Avenue 5 Years and Years, Flying Tiger 2.

Film Credits: Femme, Others, Sliding Away, Sweet Brother, Follow Where I Lead, Shakuntala Devi: Human Computer, In From The Side, Joanne of Pompeii, Detached, The Chair, The Bear, Yugen, Fun Only, #Eat Pretty, Tonic, Moving Mountains, Just a Sketch, Equal Measure, Purely Belter.

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Gloucestershire
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