Understudy, The

Synopsis: Television programme. This was the penultimate segment in the first series of a six-part anthology of half-hour plays written by Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith, who also appear in most of the episodes. THE UNDERSTUDY is subdivided into five acts and the plot and characters mirror those in Macbeth. Pemberton plays Tony Warner, an actor starring in a West End production of Macbeth. Shearsmith is Jim, his understudy, and his girlfriend Laura, who is understudying Lady Macbeth, and who is much more ambitious about his career. She hatches a plan to sabotage Tony’s performance so that Jim will get his big break. One evening Tony goes on stage drunk and falls off the battlements and Jim becomes a star but is increasingly disturbed by visions of blood in the dressing room (where the entire action takes place). But who is the real ‘Lady Macbeth’ behind the scenes? In the final ‘Act’ we see Jim preparing to go on stage in Richard III. Snatches of the play as performed on stage are heard via the intercom system playing in the dressing room.
Series: Inside No. 9
Language: English
Country: Great Britain; United Kingdom
Medium: Television
Technical information: Colour / Sound
Year of release: 2014
Subjects: Drama
Keywords: Shakespeare, William (1564-1616); theatre companies

Director

David Kerr

Producer

Jon Plowman

Writer

Reece Shearsmith; Steve Pemberton

Cast

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