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| Actors Kieran Buckeridge and Ella Vale behind the bar of Lancaster’s Golden Lion |
Lancaster’s newest landlord and landlady were invited to learn the ropes at one of the city’s oldest pubs last week.
Acting couple Kieran Buckeridge and Ella Vale took time out from rehearsals to pull a few pints at The Golden Lion, just a stone’s throw from The Dukes in Moor Lane which will soon be staging Jim Cartwright’s Northern pub drama –Two.
“We found out that we were the only two in the company who had never worked a bar before,” says Kieran, “which is quite unusual for actors.”
“I had a waitressing job once but was terrible at it,” said Ella. “I kept dropping things and got muddled using the till.”
But there was no time for excuses when the pair arrived for a shift at The Golden Lion, which has been run by Jon Davis and his wife Macy for the past four years.
The couple were soon put to work, preparing the bar, pulling their first pints and enjoying some banter with the first customers of the afternoon.
Two director, Louie Ingham, chose The Golden Lion to help Kieran and Ella’s preparations for their roles because of its close connection to The Dukes and its similarity to the pub where the drama is based.
Landlord Jon said: “Ours is an old pub where everyone sits around the bar and chats to one another. It’s a proper regulars pub and we have some real characters coming in much like in the play.”
After their work experience at The Golden Lion, Kieran and Ella did a second shift – but this time behind the bar at The Dukes itself.
The Dukes will be creating a new, fully operational pub to stage Two in The Round from Thursday 6th October until the 29th, and the audience can enjoy a drink before the show and during the interval on the stage set.
In Two, as well as playing landlord and landlady of Lancaster’s newest – and most temporary pub – Kieran and Ella will also take on all the characters who visit their bar in what promises to be a tour-de-force performance by two versatile actors.
Two opens The Dukes Pub Season, which celebrates 40 years since the Lancaster theatre and cinema was launched in the autumn of 1971.
• Tickets for Two can be booked at The Dukes box office on 01524 598500 or www.dukes-lancaster.org