Sarah Lancashire and Reece Shearsmith Gaze Toward Betty Blue Eyes in the West End

Sarah Lancashire and Reece Shearsmith will star in Betty Blue Eyes, a new musical adaptation of Alan Bennett and Malcolm Mowbray's film A Private Function. Directed by Richard Eyre, the show and features a score by George Stiles and Anthony Drewe and book by Ron Cowen and Daniel Lipman. The production will begin performances on March 19, 2011 at the West End's Novello Theatre. 

Lancashire, who will play Joyce, last appeared on the West End in Guys and Dolls. Her many TV credits include Coronation Street, Clocking Off, Cherised, Five Daughters and Skins. Shearsmith will take on the role of Gilbert. His West End credits include The Producers, Art and Ghost Stories. He has appead on TV's The League of Gentlemen and Psychoville.

Betty Blue Eyes takes place in post-WWII England as the country works to rebuild itself and looks toward the upcoming wedding of Princess Elizabeth. A release for the production describes the show as "Belts are being tightened and the country’s long suffering citizens are being told by the government that there will be fair shares for all in return for surviving Austerity Britain.  Meanwhile local officials feather their own nests by taking far more than their own fair share. It is of course 1947 and having won the war Britain seems to have lost the peace and the country is staggering under the burden of acute rationing, unemployment, and the coldest winter for decades.  The only bright spark on the horizon is the impending Royal Wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip."

The cast will also feature David Bamber as Swaby, Jack Edwards as Allardyce, Ann Emery as Mother Dear, Mark Meadows as Lockwood and Adrian Scarborough as Wormold. The creative team includes set designer Tim Hatley, lighting designer Neil Austin and sound designer Mick Potter.