Jane Asher and Samantha Womack to lead new tour of Daisy Goodwin’s BY ROYAL APPOINTMENT

Full casting has been revealed for the new tour of By Royal Appointment - the debut play of Daisy Goodwin, creator of hit ITV historical drama Victoria - directed by Anthony Banks.

Jane Asher (Twelfth Night, Orange Tree Theatre) and Samantha Womack (Eastenders, BBC) will star as The Queen and her Dresser, respectively. The play explores their relationship and how the pair created the public image of the world’s longest reigning monarch. They will be joined by David Robb (Private Lives, Lyceum Edinburgh) as The Designer, and Matthew Cottle (Hamlet, National Theatre) as The Milliner.

The late Queen Elizabeth II was famous for her discretion. She never said anything in public that could ruffle the lightest of feathers. But she had one way of expressing what she really thought – through her wardrobe.

By Royal Appointment is a funny, poignant and celebratory new play about the kind of power that only a Queen can wield – she charms the world through coats and admonishes her family through a carefully chosen hat. But the Queen herself is uninterested in fashion, her look is managed by her Designer, her Milliner and most powerful of all, her Dresser who was a working-class girl who goes from advising the Queen on the colour of her lipsticks to the real power behind the throne. But the Dresser, like all royal favourites is living on borrowed time.

By Royal Appointment is a behind the scenes peek into the world of our most popular monarch and the image she presented to the world.

By Royal Appointment is a co-production with Cambridge Arts Theatre and will open there from 21 September - 3 October before touring to Nottingham, Chelmsford, York, Chichester, Edinburgh, and Canterbury.

Further venues to be announced shortly.