We’ve announced the cast for The Ruff Tuff Cream Puff Estate Agency, now in rehearsals, and performing in Coventry at the Belgrade Theatre from 9 to 16 October. The production is presented as part of Coventry City of Culture 2021
The eight-strong cast announced today is: Hannah Azuonye, Matt Burns, Hollie Cassar, Wesley Charles, Daisy Ann Fletcher, Benji Lord, Joseph Tweedale and Sarah Workman.
Joseph Tweedale plays John “Mad Dog” Sky, founder of The Ruff Tuff Cream Puff Estate Agency, the world’s first estate agency for squatters. Friends and bandmates, Lu (Daisy Ann Fletcher) and Ally (Hannah Azuonye), are both new to the world of squatting and have turned up at the agency looking for somewhere to live and rehearse. Lu has hitchhiked down from Coventry trying to escape a difficult past for the bright lights of the city where punk is taking hold and everyone knows someone in a band. Luckily their list of options has exploded thanks to Dave (Benji Lord) who works in the Housing Department at Hammersmith Town Hall and moonlights at the agency sharing the inside-track on available properties. The nation is in the grip of a housing crisis, and more than ten thousand people are sleeping rough on the streets of London every night. The Ruff Tuff phoneline, manned by Cheffie (Sarah Workman) and Cliff (Wesley Charles), rings day and night. The system is broken and a revolution is needed. Together with John, Alan (Matt Burns) and Rosie (Hollie Cassar) have had an idea that will make headlines and history: they’re going to turn their west London neighbourhood into a brand new nation.
Adrian Jackson, director of The Ruff Tuff Cream Puff Estate Agency, said:
“It’s so exciting to be telling the story of Frestonia with a super-talented cast. We need these stories of community and resilience as we emerge from this terrible time – art and activism really can change the world”.
Joining the cast of The Ruff Tuff Cream Puff Estate Agency is a brand new choir uniting local people with lived experience of homelessness formed in partnership with The Choir with No Name. Cardboard Citizens has been working in Coventry since March, and half of the community chorus were participants in its Cardboard Camps residency at Belgrade Theatre.
