Cast announcement and final extra week added for FOURTEEN AGAIN
PRINCIPAL CASTING FINAL EXTRA WEEK ADDED FOR BRAND-NEW MUSICAL FOURTEEN AGAIN
Music & Lyrics Victoria Wood - Book Tom MacRae
A further week’s extension has been added and two of musical theatre’s most loved leading ladies will play best friends, RIA JONES (Lou) and SALLY ANN TRIPLETT (Peggy) in the world premiere of the brand-new musical FOURTEEN AGAIN at THE VICTORIA WOOD THEATRE, Bowness-on-Windermere from Friday 1 May and now extended to Saturday 6 June 2026 (press night Thursday 7 May). A final further week has been added to the run, with just 36 performances in total!
The excitement is palpable as FOURTEEN AGAIN premieres in the newly named THE VICTORIA WOOD THEATRE, and with Ria Jones and Sally Ann Triplett cast – all roads continue to lead back to Victoria. Both actors had worked alongside Victoria: Sally Ann created the role of Miss Berta in the original West End production of the musicalAcorn Antiques, and Riaperformed with Victoria in her comedy show and TV special The Angina Monologues. Their extraordinary CVs read like an A-Z of musical theatre with Ria having starred in Evita, Les Misérables, 42nd Street, Sunset Boulevard, Chess, Acorn Antiques, Into The Woods, Victor/Victoria, Nine, Witches of Eastwick, Joseph and Sally Ann having starred in Mamma Mia, Cabaret, Chicago, Oklahoma!, Billy Elliott, Guys and Dolls, Jolson, Anything Goes, Grease, Cats, Follies – to name but a few of their individual credits!
Victoria Wood’s long-standing friendships, love of the Lake District and close connection to The Old Laundry Theatre comes full circle, as the intimate theatre is renamed THE VICTORIA WOOD THEATRE in honour of the much loved and talented star (official renaming 19 May). Her dear friends and the theatre’s owners, husband-and-wife team, Charlotte Scott and Roger Glossop MBE, have brought together an extraordinary production team for FOURTEEN AGAIN (see below), and most had worked with Victoria; including the writer and lyricist Tom MacRae (Everybody’s Talking About Jamie), who will bring a whole new generation of fans to Victoria’s genius music and lyrics, by creating a brand-new stage show.
The musical FOURTEEN AGAIN begins at the local Slimming Club, where Peggy (Triplett) is reunited with Lou (Jones), her best friend from school who she hasn’t seen since they were teenagers. As kids, no two friends were ever funnier or more fun, but here, now, today they are shadows of their younger selves - and a story unfolds of looking back to the future, full of comedy, love and pain, with Victoria’s amazing songs moving the musical fast forward. Further casting TBC.
As Tom says “I wanted to create a show that is genuinely dramatic and surprising, with high stakes and real tension, as well as celebrating Vic’s innate sense of comedy and the warmth of her world, populated with loveable, relatable characters and celebrating friendship. My starting point was The Ballad Of Barry And Freda. The one song that was tricky to place was Litter Bin about a teenage mum abandoning a child in a bin. It was just so sad. How could I introduce that idea into a comedy? And then I had a brainwave - and that unlocked an idea that the entire show is now built around. Left to my own devices, I would never have integrated such a tragic element into such an upbeat story. So, thanks Vic, my amazing and inspirational collaborator – I owe you one.”
A joyous new theatre name plus a brand-new musical - THE VICTORIA WOOD THEATRE and FOURTEEN AGAIN. Rehearsals start Tuesday 7 April (The tenth anniversary of Victoria Wood’s death is 20 April).
The start of something magical and a legacy so truly deserved for the legend that is Victoria Wood.
