Laura Main for Playhouse Shrek

Casting for Shrek’s Xmas Playhouse stay announced

Laura Main is to join the cast of the new production of Shrek the Musical, which opens at the Edinburgh Playhouse for the Christmas Season 2017, before touring the UK and Ireland.

The Aberdeen-born Call the Midwife star will play Princess Fiona when the show opens at the Playhouse on Tuesday 12 December. Shrek will be played by Stefan Harri with Marcus Ayton as Donkey and Samuel Holmes as the diminutive Lord Farquaad.

Laura Main will play Princess Fiona. Pic Chris Gardner

Speaking of her decision to be forcibly incarcerated in a dusty castle guarded by a fire breathing dragon with a penchant for torch-songs, Main said: “I’ve been waiting a long time for an adventure like this to come along and now that it has I am ready to swap the surgery for the swamp in one of my favourite musicals.”

Main is best known as Shelagh Turner in Call the Midwife and will appear in the role in this year’s Christmas Special and the seventh series in 2018. She has some previous musicals experience having earned plaudits as Susan, in Southwark Playhouse’s 2011 production of Company.

She added: “Shrek has made a Believer out of me and I can’t wait for this fairytale to take me across the country.”

Shrek the Musical is based on the story and characters from William Steig’s book Shrek! and the DreamWorks Animations feature film. As previously announced this tour will be directed by Nigel Harman, who also helmed its original UK tour.

slightly temperamental

For those who don’t know, the show stars green-skinned ogre Shrek as its unlikely hero. Shrek and his loyal steed Donkey embark on a quest to rescue the beautiful (if slightly temperamental) Princess Fiona from a fire-breathing, love-sick dragon. On their way they fall foul of the diminutive Lord Farquaad, a gang of fairytale misfits and a biscuit with attitude.

Steffan Harri, Laura Main, Marcus Ayton and Samuel Holmes.

Stefan Harri, who is taking the title role, is no stranger to the show, having covered the role of Lord Farquaad in the original tour. He has also appeared in Les Miserables and Spamalot. Marcus Ayton who plays Donkey starred as Sammy Davis Jr in The Rat Pack Live and  Ray Charles in A Tribute to the Brothers Live as well as two stints on tours of Joseph. Samuel Holmes, who takes up the knee pads to play Lord Farquaad, is currently appearing as George in the UK Tour of The Wedding Singer.



The company of fairy-tale characters will include Adam Baker, Ethan Bradshaw, Michael Carolan, Joseph Dockree, Will Hawksworth, Sarah-Louise Jones, Reece Kerridge, Thomas Lee Kidd, Amy Oxley, Jemma Revell, Lucinda Shaw, Sam Stones, Adam Taylor, Jennifer Tierney, Sophie Wallis, Francesca Williams, Laura Wilson and Kevin Yates.

The show was most recently at the Playhouse in 2015, with Bronte Barbe as the princess to Dean Chisnall’s Shrek, Idriss Kargbo as Donkey and Gerard Carey as Farquaad. Æ’s review is here: ★★★★☆  Spectacular.

After four weeks at the Edinburgh Playhouse the tour is booked through the whole of 2018, including two weeks in Aberdeen in March.

Laura Main is scheduled to play Princess Fiona at the first eight venues of the tour from Edinburgh through to Cardiff in April. She will then appear at Woking, Liverpool, Milton Keynes, Plymouth, Southampton and Leeds. Further casting will be announced at a later date.

Listings

Shrek the Musical
Edinburgh Playhouse, Greenside Place, EH1 3AA
Tuesday 12 December 2017 – Sunday 7 January 2018
Tue-Sat 7pm; Sun: 1pm & 5pm
Matinees (Sats and various dates): 2.30pm
Tickets and information from: http://www.atgtickets.com/shows/shrek-the-musical/edinburgh-playhouse/
Tour website: http://shrekthemusical.co.uk/

Shrek UK tour on Twitter: @ShrekUKTour

ENDS

Tags: Laura Main, Marcus Ayton, Musicals, News, Nigel Harman, Playhouse, Samuel Holmes, Shrek, Shrek the Musical, Stefan Harri