Full casting announced for the Claybody Theatre premiere of Deborah McAndrew’s new play Bright Lights Over Bentilee

Claybody Theatre have announced their full casting for their forthcoming stage premiere of Deborah McAndrew’s new play Bright Lights Over Bentillee. 

Bright Lights Over Bentilee’s cast will feature Jack Wilkinson (Macbeth, Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, King Lear, Northern Broadsides and as Arron Baylis in Holby City, BBC) as Sidney Kettle; Kymberley Cochrane (Bille The Kid, Vaudeville Theatre) as Jean Mellor; Polly Lister (Animal Farm, Bolton Octagon/Derby Theatre & Hull Truck Theatre and Around the World in 80 Days, Bolton Octagon) as Beverley Alcock; Ava Ralph (40 Elephants, Stowaway Theatre) as Sylvia Alcock ; Phil Corbitt (Calendar Girls, UK Tour and Kinky Boots, Storyhouse Chester ) as Albert Ferry and Eddy Westbury (Tom, Dick & Harry, New Vic Theatre and The Comedy about A Bank Robbery, West End) as Michael, as well as a community cast. 

Polly Lister and Eddy Westbury both appeared in Song of the Sytch last year, as landlady Alice and shady drayman Danny. Eddy also appeared in the remount of Claybody Theatre’s 2022 production The Card at the New Vic Theatre in 2023.  
 
Jack Wilkinson is originally from Tunstall. He appeared as Liam in The D Road for Claybody Theatre in 2019 and has recently worked on the trailer for Claybody’s New Year project, HOOTENANNA!  
 
Ava Ralph is also a local girl from Newcastle-under-Lyme and a recent graduate of Rose Bruford Drama School. Ava was part of the Community Cast on Claybody productions, Dirty Laundry and The D Road. Home grown talent coming home to Claybody!  

Directed by Conrad Nelson (One Man, Two Guvnors, New Vic Theatre) Bright Lights Over Bentilee is inspired by real events on 2 September 1967, when dozens of people witnessed bright lights in the sky and a UFO landing in a field beside the Bentilee housing estate. At the time, this was the largest council estate in Europe, and today it remains a sprawling labyrinth of houses, churches, schools, shops, and community buildings. 

In archive news footage from the time, several witnesses give their accounts of the incident. Local woman Mrs Bowen recalls: "It seemed like a saucer, you know. It changed in different colours - a red, a greenish and a blue. I did get frightened of it when it dropped." 

Bright Lights over Bentilee will premiere at The Dipping House in Stoke-on-Trent from 27 September – 12 October.

For tickets and further details visit www.claybodytheatre.com