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Exeter Northcott Theatre returns to producing with Harold Pinter’s Betrayal

Betrayal promotional poster

Thursday 18 February – Sat 5 March
Press Night: Monday 22 February

Directed by Paul Jepson
Design by Tim Bird
Lighting Design by Dominic Jeffery

Exeter Northcott Theatre is proud to present Artistic and Executive Director Paul Jepson’s directorial debut for the theatre with a new adaptation of Harold Pinter’s Betrayal. The production is also Exeter Northcott Theatre’s first full in-house production in six years.

Starring Simon Merrells, Nick Moran and Sarah Jane Potts, Betrayal begins at the end of the affair, and pursues an enthralling journey to its very beginnings. As memory reels backwards towards the moment the affair started, the lies tangle into a web of deception. Is Emma betraying her husband? Is Jerry betraying his best friend? Or are they all betraying themselves.

Paul Jepson said “Betrayal is a fabulous play. Funny, touching and incredibly balanced. A play about people breaking out and having what they want and then finding out they still aren’t happy. I’m delighted to be working with such a fantastic cast.”

Simon Merrells recent credits include: The Musketeers (BBC) & Crassus in Spartacus: War of the Damned (Sky). Simon’s theatre includes the lead in On the Water Front directed by Stephen Berkoff in the West End.

Nick Moran is best known for his role lead role as Eddy the card sharp in the BAFTA and BIFA winning Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels; and as the writer of the Olivier nominated West End stage play Telstar directed by Paul Jepson. Other notable film roles include Scabior the leader of the Snatchers in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows I & II.

Sarah-Jane Potts spent last year shooting the first series of Gracepoint (the American adaptation of the incredibly successful British series Broadchurch). Sarah-Jane played the role of Lauren in the film version of Kinky Boots (BBC) which she starred alongside Chiwetel Ejiofor, Nick Frost and Joel Edgerton. Sarah-Jane is also known for her work in a number of long-standing series’ such as Bodies, Sugar Rush and Holby City.

Of the countless eternal love triangles written for the stage, few have matched Harold Pinter’s gripping depiction of infidelity – as intricate as a spy novel with its cross and double cross.

Smart, darkly funny and full of yearning, Betrayal is one of Pinter’s most accessible and riveting plays.

Betrayal will play at Exeter Northcott Theatre from Thurs 18 February – Sat 5 March 2016.

-ends-

For more information, please contact Jenny Hogg on 01392 722 408 or email her.

Info for editors

Paul Jepson has been the artistic and executive director of the Exeter Northcott Theatre since January 2015. He has directed classics, contemporary classics and new plays at the Royal National Theatre, the major regional theatres, the new writing theatres and in the West End.
Paul has recently directed the award-winning anti-trafficking play This Is My Body for Ten Ten Theatre for a tour of the UK and which was performed in London to mark Anti-Slavery Day. His other credits include: Telstar (Tour & West End), Life After Life (also writer, Royal National Theatre), Manchester Sound: The Massacre (Home).

Simon Merrells performed as Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing at the Liverpool Playhouse in 2007. He also starred as Oedipus in Stephen Berkoff’s production at the same venue in 2011, a role in which he was nominated for a Stage Award for Best Actor. Recent TV and film credits include Judas Ghost (Falling Shadows Productions), The Musketeers (BBC), Silk (BBC) The Tomorrow People (Channel 4) and Dominion (Fiction Film & Television).

Nick Moran has starred or co-starred in over 30 features including New Blood with John Hurt, and the BIFA winning and BAFTA nominated Christie Malry’s Own Double Entry which saw Moran receive an Evening Standard Best Actor nomination. Moran’s more recent television appearances include Frank Towler in Mr Selfridge (ITV), the BAFTA nominated The Wrong Mans (BBC) and the BAFTA nominated The Great Train Robbery (BBC) as well as recent guest appearances in Death in Paradise (BBC) and in DCI Banks (ITV). His many stage appearances include Blood Brothers, The Rivals, The Countess and most recently 12 Angry Men on the London’s West End. Other appearances include lead roles in Nick Grosso’s Real Classy Affair at the Royal Court Theatre, Billy Liar at Salisbury Playhouse, Look Back In Anger at Bristol Old Vic, Paul Webb’s Four Knights in Knaresborough at The Marlow Theatre Canterbury and subsequent tour. He mostly recently starred in Steven Thompson’s Roaring Trade at The Park Theatre London.
Sarah-Jane Potts spent last year shooting the first series of Gracepoint (The American adaptation of the incredibly successful British series Broadchurch). Sarah-Jane is also known for her work in a number of long-standing series’ such as Bodies, Sugar Rush and Holby City. Sarah-Jane has also worked on US series’ such as Off Centre (WB Network), NYPD Blue (ABC), American Dreams (NBC) and Keen Eddie (FOX).

Website: https://exeternorthcott.co.uk/calendar/betrayal/

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