Royal Court opens new downstairs theatre space with The Rainbow Connection

Liverpool’s Royal Court  is bringing us a new production of the bittersweet comedy The Rainbow Connection.

Taking place in the new Downstairs theatre space, the show will star two familiar faces in Danny O’Brien and Angela Simms. Royal Court audiences will have seen them together before in both runs of the smash hit comedy The Royal in 2016 and 2017.

The Rainbow Connection was a hit when it was performed at Unity Theatre in 2013 with the same cast. Director Paul Goetzee also returns to his role for this new production.

Writer Joanne Sherryden won the BBC’s Comedy Writing Bursary and £4,000 to help her develop her writing. Her previous play, Wannabe, won ‘Best New Play Award’ – Liverpool Daily Post and Joanne also won a Scouseology Award for Best New Talent for the play.

The Rainbow Connection focusses on two apartment dwelling 30-somethings, one a superstitious dreamer, the other a cynical realist. She’s a sassy, brassy and scatty but beneath the two-inch slap, she’s hiding deeper insecurities. He’s smart talking and acerbic – never lost for a word, but he can’t talk about the secret he’s hiding.

Sherryden describes it as “A love story without the lurvin’, a romcom without the rom. A two-hander comedy that explores the very specific friendship between gay men and straight women.”

Goetzee is looking forward to remounting the play in a new venue: “The show is a contemporary take on the classic novel/film Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Just as romantic but a bit more out there than the film, though not as dark as the novel. (Scatty)girl meets (gay) boy, both of them with a lot of baggage. It was originally a prize winner at the 24/7 festival in Manchester and stole the show in an hour-long version. It’s now 90 minutes long but still has the magical blend of comedy and sadness it always had.”

The Rainbow Connection will run Downstairs at Liverpool’s Royal Court from 3 to 12 April. Tickets are £10 and are available from the Royal Court Box Office, royalcourtliverpool.com or on 0151 709 4321