From a press release:
The Goon Show will be making a triumphant return to the stage at this October’s Birmingham Comedy Festival.
The one-off performance sees the festival marking the centenary of the birth of Goon Show writer Larry Stephens – who was born in nearby West Bromwich and raised in Quinton, on the outskirts of the city.
Two 1958 scripts written by Stephens and Maurice Wiltshire will be recreated – The Seagoon Memoirs and The Moriarty Murder Mystery. The night will also include a Q&A section featuring Stephens’ biographer, Julie Warren. She will delve into the life of the scriptwriter who famously wrote for flatmate Tony Hancock. He also collaborated with fellow Goon scribes Milligan, Eric Sykes and Jimmy Grafton on other high profile radio projects.
The event is set for Sunday 8 October 2023 at Symphony Hall, Birmingham. Tickets are on sale now – click here.
Birmingham Comedy Festival were the first company to produce an officially sanctioned stage production of The Goon Show, performing a sell-out run of The Canal and The Phantom Head Shaver (of Brighton) in 2014. They returned in 2017 with The House Of Teeth and The Jet Propelled Guided NAAFI. The 2017 shows were described as “absolutely, utterly, 100% unmissable!” by The GSPS’s Chair, John Repsch.
“Shut your eyes for a moment and you are suddenly at home listening to it on your Bakelite wireless set.” he continued. “Open your eyes again and you are catching what listeners missed.”
The cast for the 2023 performance include Richard Usher (Sellers), Mark Earby (Milligan) and Jimm Rennie (Seagoon) – who were all involved in previous productions – plus musician Jim Wynn.
Producer/Director Dave Freak, from Birmingham Comedy Festival, said: “We had initially planned to do this, back in 2020, around the publication of Julie’s book – It’s All In The Mind: The Life And Legacy Of Larry Stephens. But the lurgi got in the way. So we tried again in 2021 for The Goons’ 70th anniversary (and the festival’s 20th). And again, that damn lurgi got in the way. But with this year marking Larry’s 100th birthday, and with us all now being inoculated against both The Spon and The Nadger plagues, the opportunity represented itself, so we decided, why not?
“Larry’s role in the development of British comedy deserves to be better known.”
Birmingham Comedy Festival presents: The Goon Show is at Symphony Hall, Birmingham, on Sunday 8 October 2023, at 7pm. For tickets and more information, see:
bmusic.co.uk
bhamcomfest.co.uk
The Goon Show Preservation Society 