Irish Musical to Be Staged at the Tabard Theatre
Next Door's Baby is based in Dublin in the fifties
The O'Brien Family in rehearsals
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April 28, 2023
The first musical to be staged at the Tabard Theatre in Chiswick since it was under new management is to be Next Door’s Baby by Matthew Strachan and Bernie Gaughan
Featuring a cast of eight, it opens on Thursday 4 May for a four-week run until Saturday 27 May having first been performed at the Orange Tree Theatre in 2008. This new production is a revival directed by Keith Strachan.
In 1950’s Dublin and two families living in adjoining terraced houses become locked in a bitter matriarchal feud about a Bonny Baby competition run by the local newspaper.
Mrs O’Brien is widowed, hard-up, but ferociously proud of her five children; Dickie, Orla, Sheila, Larry and little Conor, the baby who will put their name in lights. She is icily polite to ‘her next door’, Mrs Hennessy, whose lifestyle is one of ease.
Against a traditionally Irish backdrop, where respectability is all and you judge a woman by the dazzling whiteness of her net curtains, each family nurses a secret; one that could unite them or tear them apart. It’s only on the eve of the Bonny Baby final that we discover their fate.
The cast includes former World Champion Irish Dancer Hayley-Jo Murphy who plays ’Sheila’ as well as choreographing the show. The remaining cast of 8 are Jackie Pulford, Abigail Williams, Ben Hannigan, Amber Deasy, Logan McQuillan, Shaylyn Gibson and Sam Woodhams.
Director Keith Strachan has worked extensively in theatre and television as director, musical director, arranger and composer. His theatre credits, as director, include Dreamboats & Petticoats (West End and National Tour), Save The Last Dance For Me (National Tour), Laughter In The Rain (National Tour), Dancing In The Streets (West End and National Tour) Elvis The Musical (West End and National Tour) and Tommy (National Tour).
The Hennessy Family in rehearsals
Book writer Bernie Gaughan is an English author of popular women's fiction. Her Irish background is often incorporated into her writing, particularly in the semi-autobiographical musical Next Door’s Baby. Prior to becoming an author, Bernie worked in the media as a radio advertising producer and subsequently as an agent for voiceover artists. Her first novel, The Reluctant Landlady, was published in 2004. Since then, she has published three further novels with the same publisher. In 2009, her fifth book, How to Lose a Husband and Gain a Life, followed in 2010 by Why Do We Have to Live with Men?, were both published by Little, Brown.
Former World Champion Irish Dancer Hayley-Jo Murphy
The remaining Creative Team includes Beth Jerem as Musical Director, Hazel Owen as Designer and Alice McNicholas as Costume Designer.
The production runs for two hours including an interval and tickets are on sale for £19.50 - £23.50.
You can book all productions online on the Tabard Theatre web site or call the box office on 020 8995 6035 (leave a message if you can’t get through and your call will be returned).
Theatre at the Tabard is at 2 Bath Road, Chiswick (W4 1LW).
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