LINDA Nolan is to star in a new UK tour of Madness musical Our House and it will visit the South coast.

The production, featuring Madness hits like It Must Be Love, House of Fun and Baggy Trousers, will be at The King's Theatre, Portsmouth from Monday 30 October – Saturday 4 November 2017

The 2003 Olivier Award-winning musical will be produced by Immersion Theatre Company and Damien Tracey Productions and tour the UK from 7th August – 25th November 2017.

Tim Firth, who penned the book for the musical, and also wrote the smash hits Calendar Girls and Kinky Boots paid tribute to Ska pioneers Madness’ songwriting skills. He said:

“Madness are unique in that they wrote songs about home and hearth, about growing up, never growing up, having and not having, rising and falling. They came from London but they spoke to every corner of the nation, and they certainly spoke to me, growing up in the North West. All this they did undercover of songs that fooled you into thinking they were just catchy, danceable and funny. This quality is for me at the heart of what musical theatre should aim to be. In a sense, Madness started writing a musical twenty five years ago. It was colourful, truthful, vibrant, witty and universal. It was just up to me to find it.”

Linda Nolan said: “I couldn’t be happier about playing Kath Casey in Our House. I’ve always loved Madness’s music. It spreads warmth throughout the soul, and finds joy in the everyday and ordinary. It’s a perfect partner to Tim’s wonderfully madcap story of love and locals.”

On the night of his 16th birthday, Joe Casey takes the girl of his dreams, Sarah, out on their first date. In an effort to impress her with bravado, Joe breaks into a building site overlooking his home on Casey Street. When the police turn up, a split-second decision forces him to choose between himself and his heart as the story splits in two: one which sees Joe stay to face the music, and the other which sees him flee and leave Sarah to run from the police. As two very different paths unfold before him, the consequences of that choice will change his life forever.

No stranger to the stage, actress and singer Linda Nolan has starred as Mrs Johnstone in the award winning musical Blood Brothers both on tour in the UK and in London’s West End. In addition to enjoying worldwide success with her sisters in the family act, The Nolans, Linda and the group toured the UK and Ireland in 2015 with their I’m In The Mood Again tour, and performed on BBC’s Children In Need.

Our House was first staged at the Cambridge Theatre in London’s West End from October 2002 to August 2003 and won the 2003 Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Musical. This tour will be directed by Immersion Theatre’s James Tobias and choreographed by the resident choreographer of Matilda The Musical, Fabian Aloise.