A four-theatre co-production of the stage adaptation of John Steinbeck's American classic Of Mice and Men will take to the road next month, starting at Derby Theatre (February 6-March 1), and visiting Hull Truck Theatre (March 5-22); Bolton Octagon (March 26-April 12) and Theatre By The Lake in Keswick (April 16-May 3).
Despite its universal acclaim as one of the great novels of the 1920s American Depression, the book might no longer be studied at GCSE level in Wales from September - amid concerns about racism and racial slurs, accusations it has faced and overcome many times over the decades,
Steinbeck's story of friendship and hope features Lennie and George, two drifters and best friends wandering around California looking for work, bound together with a shared faith and an ambition to live the American Dream.
Hull Truck artistic director Mark Babych said: “This is the second of a three-year project with our regional partners, Derby Theatre, Octagon Bolton and Theatre by the Lake, to bring audiences powerful, classic stories.
"The story has themes of social exclusion based on race, disability and gender, difficult topics relevant to the time period in which the play is set and which still resonate today, making it as potent and relevant as when it was first written.”
The just-announced cast will be: Jeff Alexander as Crooks (RSC, Shakespeare’s Globe; Last Tango in Halifax); Rob Maloney as The Boss (A Clockwork Orange, All Creatures Great and Small, Coronation Street, EastEnders); Stefan Race as Curley (Let the Right One In, Royal Exchange); Cherry Jezebel (Liverpool Everyman); Wendy and Peter Pan (Leeds Playhouse); Emma Charlton as Curley’s wife (Beauty and the Beast, A Christmas Carol, Derby Theatre); Tom Fletcher as labourer Carlson (Oliver Twist, Little Women Black and Extraordinary on Disney+); Ben Wilson as Candy (Macbeth, Leeds Playhouse; A Midsummer Night’s Dream, RSC); Afton Moran as Whit (Sex Education Xplorers, Not Seeing Straight); Laurence Pears as Slim (Magic Goes Wrong, The Mousetrap); and Wiliam Young (Of Mice and Men, Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth) and Luke Richards (East, Failure Studies) will share the role of Lennie.