Two veterans of Coronation Street are together again – for a play written by the soap’s current health centre doctor.
KIN, written by Christine Mackie – currently the Street’s GP – features Roberta Kerr, who as Wendy Crozier once seduced Ken Barlow, and is directed by Sue Jenkins, once Rovers’ barmaid Gloria Todd.
The new dark comedy about power, money and succession appears at The Dukes Theatre, Lancaster from May 25-28.
Roberta plays newly-widowed Kay, opposite Kerry Willison-Parry as her sister-in-law, Steph. They meet for the first time in years at a family funeral, but nothing could have prepared them for the revelations ahead.
Sue says: “It’s a beautifully-written play, with superbly-drawn characters, brilliant witty dialogue and depth. It’s full of shocking surprises and dark family secrets, which will wrongfoot the audience at every turn.”
KIN is Christine’s second play, following the success of Best Girl, a semi-autobiographical work based on her experience as the daughter of a World War Two veteran who took his own life. Christine’s own daughter, Lois, played the lead in that production, which toured to sell-out audiences in Edinburgh.
Christine, whose acting career began at The Dukes in 1979, says: “For KIN, I wanted to create women characters in their fifties and sixties who bucked the trend of what you might expect to see on stage and screen.”