Northern Outlet Theatre Company is pleased to announce their forthcoming double-bill which will be touring fringe venues in Carlisle, Liverpool and Manchester this November.

John And Mark is a new play by George Gunby about a musical legend and his killer. Set in the cell of a New York maximum security prison, the play sees prisoner Mark David Chapman visited by John Lennon; the man he shot dead years earlier outside the Dakota building.  Within the confines of a prison cell the play offers an insight into the mind of the man who started off a fan and became a fanatic. Touching on issues of love, loss, faith and obsession, the play gives Lennon the opportunity to ask the question that has riddled millions of people across the world since December 8^th 1980.

The production sees Lee Joseph taking on the role of John Lennon. “For me, the play is about two complete strangers who are connected by one horrific moment – a very bloody brief encounter – which still haunts them. With George Gunby’s script we find a Lennon that the world has never known – a Lennon who is here to confront his killer. It’s about how they face their own personal demons”. Completing the cast is Matthew Howard-Norman, who will be making his professional debut in the role of Mark David Chapman and Tracy Gabbitas who will be playing The Woman.

The second play in the double-bill is the U.K. premiere of Naked Old Man by Tony and Academy Award nominated writer Murray Schisgal performed by Richard Sails, which follows the ageing playwright and co-writer of the film Tootsie, as he is joined for the evening by three of his closest friends, all of whom happen to be deceased. “I confess to being the eighty-two-year-old man”, says Murray in an accompanying note to the play, “and the three guests that come to share the evening with me are, even today, among my closest friends. What inspired me to write the play? A deep, emotional need, the only reason to write anything.”

The double-bill is directed by Paul Blinkhorn.

John and Mark / Naked Old Man previews at Stanwix Theatre in Carlisle on 1^st November before running at The Lantern Theatre, Liverpool (6th-8th November) and then moving on to Taurus Bar, Manchester (12th-13th November).

The dates for the performances at The Lantern Theatre are Thursday 6^th November – Saturday 8^th November at 7.30pm. With a matinee on Saturday 8^th November at 3.00pm
*Theatre: * The Lantern Theatre, 57 Blundell Street, Liverpool, L1 0AJ. Tickets are priced at £9 each and available from the Lantern Theatre Box office on www.lanterntheatreliverpool.co.uk or by telephone on 0151 7030000.