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First major theatrical staging of beloved Hollywood movie comes to Brighton

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel Company arriving at Theatre Royal Brighton Stage Door
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel Company arriving at Theatre Royal Brighton Stage Door

The first major theatrical staging of a much-loved tale of starting over will play at the Theatre Royal Brighton this week.

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel kicked off at the theatre on Tuesday and will run until Saturday, September 24.

Celebrated stars of stage and screen Hayley Mills (Pollyanna, The Parent Trap, Whistle Down the Wind) Paul Nicholas (Jesus Christ Superstar, BBC 1’s Just Good Friends, Eastenders) and Rula Lenska (ITV’s Rock Follies, Coronation Street, Channel 4’s Celebrity Big Brother) star in the feel-good tale of love and adventure.

Audiences will be taken a journey to India with an eclectic group of British retirees as they embark on a new life. The luxury residence is far from the opulence they were promised, but as their lives begin to intertwine and they embrace the vibrancy of modern-day India, they are charmed in unexpected and life-changing ways.

The Argus: Cast of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
The Argus: Cast of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

Cast of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

The play is written by Deborah Moggach who has adapted her bestselling 20004 novel These Foolish Things for the stage, it previously inspired a Bafta and Golden Globe- nominated film.

The film The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (directed by John Madden) saw its UK theatrical release in 2012.

Within two weeks of its cinematic distribution, the film had topped the UK Box Office and went on to become a hit internationally performing as one of the highest- grossing films of 2012 in Australia and New Zealand in addition to the United Kingdom.

The interwoven stories of the film’s stellar ensemble, which included Judi Dench, Bill Nighy, Maggie Smith, Penelope Wilson, Tom Wilkinson, Celie Imrie, and Ronald Pickup - with Dev Patel as the put-upon owner of a past-its-best hotel for "the elderly and beautiful" - shone a light on issues such as the outsourcing of care and NHS treatments, the complexity of family relationships around the world, love, compassion, and companionship in old age.

The story will be brought to life on stage and is directed by Lucy Bailey (Oleanna, UK Tour & West End); Gaslight, UK Tour; Witness for the Prosecution, London’s County Hall).