Dubious pop-star, elephant fan and Olympic standard cabbie basher Lee Ryan is apparently going to make his theatrical debut in late August, oh goody!
The former member of Blue will be performing in a new play called The Pretender Agenda which will fun for five weeks.
For those of you not familiar with Lee Ryan’s work, he enjoyed success with boyband Blue in the early 2000s, he then launched a solo career, with his self-titled album reaching number six in the UK charts. Ryan caused massive controversy in 2001, when he said the September 11th attacks were unimportant compared the the amount of elephants being poached in Africa. In late 2007 Ryan was arrested for assaulting a taxi driver. An appearance on Holby City, a role in an upcoming gangster film with Vinnie Jones (I was under the impression they stopped making those in the late 90s) and a voice part in Ice Age 2 complete Ryan’s glittering CV.

Ryan’s first foray into the world of the West End will be bravely hosted by the New Players Theatre. A small (275 seater) but comfortable, recently refurbished and well respected establishment located in the arches under Charing Cross. The theatre must be commended for staging something new. With so many revivals in the West End at the moment it is refreshing to see a small theatre taking a chance on an unknown show.

This said, the plot does not strike me as anything particularly groundbreaking. A disastrous office party reveals secrets that change the lives of the characters forever - yawn. It must also be taken into account that with all the talk of “stunt-casting” filling the theatrical media this unknown show certainly has more than its fair share of vaguely familiar faces. Lucy Benjamin from Eastenders, Vincenzo Pellegrino from Holby City, Sue Devaney of Dinnerladies fame and Coronation Street’s Emily Aston will be joining Mr. Ryan on stage.

I have a sneaking suspicion that this show will become a lightning rod for theatreland’s anti-celeb club’s scorn. Lets wait and see, and hope Ryan doesn’t take a taxi to work…

Technorati Tags: Lee Ryan, lucy benjamin, new players theatre, sue devaney, the pretender agenda, vincenzo pellegrino

Related Posts:
YouTube Love Blue Men!
There Was A Doctor In The House
Spamalot Have A Lovely Pair Of Coconuts

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 16th, 2008 at 2:26 pm and is filed under Theatre. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.