'Laughing Boy' tours exclusively to Bath's Theatre Royal

The world premiere stage production of Laughing Boy visits the Theatre Royal Bath exclusively from Tuesday 4 to Saturday 8 June starring Janie Dee, Forbes Masson and Alfie Friedman. Written and directed by Stephen Unwin, this powerful new play is based on a true story as first told in Justice for Laughing Boy by Sara Ryan.

Laughing Boy is the story of Connor Sparrowhawk. He loves buses, Eddie Stobart, and Lego. He also has learning disabilities. When he dies an entirely preventable death in NHS care, his mum Sara can’t get a straight answer as to how it happened. But Sara and her family won’t stop asking questions and soon an extraordinary campaign emerges. Demanding the truth, it uncovers a scandal of neglect and indifference that goes beyond Connor’s death to thousands of others.  

Laughing Boy is also a portrait of Connor himself - a young man who generated enormous joy in his family and friends, a boy who was surrounded by laughter and love wherever he went. Both personal and political, Sara Ryan’s impassioned, frank and surprisingly funny story bursts onto the stage for the first time in this new play written and directed by Stephen Unwin. 

Image: Lee Braithwaite, Forbes Masson, Janie Dee, Molly Osborne and Daniel Rainford in Laughing Boy, credit Alex Brenner 

Stephen Unwin said: "It’s a real honour to bring Connor Sparrowhawk’s story to the stage and I’m touched that Sara Ryan has entrusted me with it. I just hope Laughing Boy catches the love and laughter, the grief and the commitment, and the creativity, energy and blazing commitment that was the mark of the original campaign for justice for Connor and a better world for so many. As the father of a young man with learning disabilities and epilepsy, this runs deep.” 

Sara Ryan said: “This adaptation will bring what should be a national scandal to new audiences. I look forward to the laughter, the love and the sheer brilliance it will encapsulate, while packing a mighty punch.”

Double Olivier Award-winning Janie Dee plays the role of Sara. One of the UK’s most versatile actors, her recent credits include The Motive and the Cue and Follies at the National Theatre, and Hand to God in the West End. Janie is the winner of Olivier Awards for her roles in the West End productions of Carousel and Comic Potential. Previously at the Theatre Royal Bath, she has starred in An Hour And A Half Late in 2022, Old Times in 2007 and Mack & Mabel in 2006, and at the Ustinov Studio in Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike in 2019, which opened in Bath before transferring to London in 2021. Janie also regularly starred in The Peter Hall Company Seasons at the Theatre Royal Bath, appearing in 2009 in Shaw’s The Apple Cart, in 2005 in Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, and in 2003 in Coward’s Design for Living and Pinter’s Betrayal. Her screen credits include Death in Holy Orders, The Murder Room, London’s Burning, Midsomer Murder and the films Me and Orson Welles, Love Me Still and Official Secrets. 

Image: Forbes masson, Charlie Ives, Alfie Friedman, Daniel Rainford and Janie Dee in Laughing Boy, credit Alex Brenner

Forbes Masson plays the role of Rich. Last seen at the Theatre Royal Bath in Farm Hall in 2023, Forbes’ recent stage credits also include Jekyll & Hyde at the Royal Lyceum Edinburgh and The Taxidermist’s Daughter at Chichester Festival Theatre. His screen credits include EastEnders and Catastrophe. Forbes has also appeared at the Theatre Royal Bath previously in A Midsummer Night’s Dream in 2016.

The role of Connor is played by Alfie Friedman, who appeared in The Witches of Eastwick in the West End and The Undeclared War on Channel 4. Daniel Rainford, who plays the role of Tom, has performed at the Theatre Royal Bath previously in Private Peaceful in 2022 and Noises Off in 2023. The cast is completed by Lee Braithwaite as Owen, Charlie Ives as Will, Molly Osborne as Rosie.

Stephen Unwin is an award-winning British theatre and opera director. He has directed more than fifty plays and operas, and worked with many well-established actors and singers, as well as developing the careers of many younger actors. In 1993, he founded English Touring Theatre, for whom he directed more than thirty productions, many of which transferred to London.

He was Artistic Director of the new Rose Theatre in Kingston from 2008 to 2014. Stephen has taught in conservatoires and universities in Britain and America. He has written eight books on theatre and drama, four original plays and many translations. This is the fifteenth play he has directed at the Theatre Royal Bath; the most recent being A Song At Twilight in 2019 and Farm Hall in 2023.

Laughing Boy appears at the Theatre Royal Bath from Tuesday 4 to Saturday 8 June. Tickets are on sale at the Theatre Royal Box Office on +44 (0)1225 448844 and online at www.theatreroyal.org.uk.