News: Rufus Hound joins Guvnor

The Theatre Royal Norwich today have announced that Rufus Hound will star in the award-winning production of One Man, Two Guvnors when it visits Norwich from December 4-8 following in the footsteps of James Corden, who recently won a Tony Award for playing the same role.

Rufus is one of the best-known and well-loved comics on the UK circuit appearing on seven series of comedy gossip panel game Celebrity Juice, the BBC sitcom Hounded, Never Mind The Buzzcocks, and will soon be seen on the new ITV comedy show Mad Mad World.He also makes regular appearances on radio shows and is currently making his professional stage debut in Utopia at the Soho Theatre.

Rufus will play Frances Henshall who is fired from his skiffle band and becomes minder to East End hood Roscoe Crabbe.When he then takes a second job with a fleeing murderer, it leads to a string of misadventures as friends, relatives and members of the Brighton criminal fraternity end up posing as each other.One Man Two Guvnors is globally renowned for being a fantastic production and has picked up a number of awards.

As well as James Corden’s Tony, the National Theatre production has also won the Evening Standard and Critics Circle Awards for Best New Play.And it boasts a strong creative team. The production has been adapted from Carlo Goldoni’s classic Italian comedy The Servant of Two Masters by Richard Bean, whose previous work includes England People Very Nice for the National Theatre, The Heretic and the award-winning Harvest for the Royal Court Theatre, and The Big Fellah for Out of Joint at the Lyric Hammersmith and on tour.And it is being directed by the highly-respected National Theatre artistic director Nicholas Hytner, whose previous work includes Henry V, The History Boys, and Phèdre.

John Bultitude, of Norwich Theatre Royal, said: “Rufus Hound is going to bring a whole new dimension to the role of Frances Henshall and will help to make One Man Two Guvnors a must-see in our winter programme.”