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Two of television’s greatest
characters, Harold and Albert Steptoe, are
packing up their rag-and-bone cart and heading to the
West End in an hilarious new play, “STEPTOE AND SON
in Murder at Oil Drum Lane”, by the TV programme’s
original creator Ray Galton and fellow comedy
writer John Antrobus.
Following a sell-out season at the York Theatre Royal,
where it had its World Premiere on 24 October 2005, the
play will transfer to the Comedy Theatre on 16 February
2006 for a limited 9 week season prior to a national
tour. The original cast including Jake Nightingale
(‘Harold’) and Harry Dickman (‘Albert’) will
reprise their roles at The Comedy Theatre.
The time is somewhere in the future. The Steptoe house
is in the caring hands of the National Trust as the last
remaining example of a typical totters yard. ‘Albert’ is
long dead - killed in a fit of pique by ‘Harold’ hurling
an assegai through the door of the kazee. ‘Harold’ has
done a bunk to South America to escape being sentenced
to the loony bin. But now, some years later, he slips
back into the country to revisit the scene of the crime.
Only to discover the ghost of ‘Albert’ waiting for his
return…
For the first time on stage in an intriguing new story,
‘Harold’ and ‘Albert’ are once again at each other’s
throats as we get the full, unexpurgated account of
their hilarious relationship from cradle to the grave
and beyond.
“Steptoe and Son”, which ran on TV from 1962-74, was
groundbreaking in many ways: it featured established
stage/film actors playing humorous characters, not
comedians creating extensions of their stage personas
which, until this time, was the norm; it dealt with an
underclass previously seen on television only in
realistic dramas like Armchair Theatre; and its
underlying theme of the son trying desperately to escape
the clutches of his wily father imbued the series with a
pathos and poignancy hitherto absent from the sitcom
genre. For all these aspects, it was recognized then,
and still holds its place now, as a landmark
achievement, one of the most important and funny
situation comedies of all time.
Between them, writers Ray Galton and John Antrobus have
written for some of the Britain’s best-known comedy
actor of the last fifty years including Spike Milligan,
Tony Hancock, Peter Sellers, Les Dawson, Sid James,
Frankie Howerd, Marty Feldman, Ronnie Barker and Ronnie
Corbett.
“STEPTOE AND SON in Murder at Oil Drum Lane” is directed
by Roger Smith, whose numerous credits on stage include
the award wining “Duet for One” (Duke of York Theatre),
“Steaming” (Comedy Theatre), “The Understanding” (with
Ralph Richardson and Celia Johnson, Strand Theatre),
Dario Fo’s “Trumpets and Raspberries” (Phoenix Theatre),
and “When Did You Last See Your Trousers?” written by
Ray Galton and John Antrobus (Garrick Theatre). It has
design by Nigel Hook and lighting by Richard G Jones and
will be produced in the West End by Incidental Colman
and The Ambassador Theatre Group.
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