There’s been a great response to a new season of comedy at East Riding Theatre in Beverley, with a stellar line-up coming to the town over the next four months.
Launching the season next month is the self-styled “German Comedy Ambassador in London”, Henning Wehn, whose two nights at the theatre, on April 20 and 21, have already sold out.
A regular guest on the TV show ‘FAQ U’, Wehn has also appeared on 8 Out of 10 Cats, Have I Got News For You and QI.
On May 7 it’s the turn of Pete Searles, one of Britain’s foremost comedy storytellers, who performs his award-winning show, “Sex, Lies and a DVD”, having previously appeared in Edinburgh and on Broadway.
After his much younger girlfriend leaves him for a better looking, richer, more successful friend of his, Searles dissolves into a gibbering, chain-smoking, suicidal-insomniac! In desperation he resorts to the latest new-age self-help healing therapy E.F.T. (emotional freedom technique) regressing him into a voyage of self re-discovery – where buried memories of past relationships, one-night stands and a very confused childhood all come bubbling to the surface – with hilarious, painful and revelatory results!
Pete is at ER Theatre on Saturday May 7 at 7.30pm. Tickets cost £12.
Also in May (11 – 13, 7.30pm), the multi award winning comedy Bouncers, comes to the ERT for the first time.
Voted by the National Theatre as one of the greatest plays of the century, this production sees Lucky Eric, Judd, Les and Ralph back on the door of the 80’s disco Mr Cinders.
The Bouncers describe a night out in a Yorkshire night club, playing the lads, the girls and the DJ in a hilarious and thought provoking parody. This landmark play has become the benchmark for exquisite physical theatre. Written and directed by John Godber the play has won awards all over the world.
Workshops and discussions before the performances are available for students who may be studying either Bouncers or Godber as a practitioner.
In June it’s the turn of comedian James Veitch (June 10, 7.30pm, tickets £12/£13) with his hilarious new show, “Dot Com”.
James has spent the past year responding to as many scam emails as he can. Packed full of Nigerian princes, can’t miss investment opportunities and eligible Russian brides, the correspondence leads to surprising, bizarre and usually hilarious results.
Through a blend of traditional stand-up, interactive projections and music, he takes the audience on a journey through the schemes, investigates the nature of scamming, examines its role in our connected world; and explores his own psyche as he tries to understand why he finds pushing these cyber con artists to their limits so very satisfying.
Quirky, fast-paced and relatable, it’s theatre for the modern world, a show for anyone with a dream…and an email account.
One of Britain’s best-loved comediennes, Hattie Jacques, is the subject of a one-woman show, “Becoming Hattie” at ER Theatre on Wednesday June 29 and Thursday June 30 (7.30pm, tickets £14/£15)
It’s 1974 and 8-year-old Jo is snuggled up on the settee in her flammable polyester nightie, watching the family’s first colour TV. ‘Sykes’ is on and there, on the screen, is a woman unlike anyone Jo has ever seen.
That woman is Hattie Jacques!
Forty years on and Jo is walking in the footsteps of her idol. Despite the uncertainty, the periods of unemployment, the agent who seems to care more about raking in a quick buck than advancing her career, Jo is an actress. But why does she only get cast as the nurse, never the surgeon? Why is she always the council estate mum in Casualty with the dodgy kid and the high ponytail? Why is she too fat to play Lady Macbeth? Could it be that nothing has changed for women like Jo since Hattie did Carry On?
Performed by Ashley Christmas, this one-woman show takes an affectionate look at the life and career of a remarkable woman, and a witty, caustic look at modern day show business and its cultural attitudes toward larger women.
Finally, on July 9, the Stephen Frost Improv Allstars, from London’s famous Comedy Store, will be in Beverley (7.30pm, tickets £11/£12).
The Stephen Frost Improv Allstars are Stephen Frost, Niall Ashdown, Andy Smart and Steve Steen, all of whom have been regulars on the original British version of the hit TV show “Whose Line Is It Anyway?”
Stephen has been performing live improv most of his professional life, with the likes of Greg Proops, Colin Mocherie and Eddie Izzard to name but a few.
The Allstars have toured the world playing in Prague, New York Webster Hall (with Eddie Izzard and Mike Meyers), Dubai, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore, Beirut and Baku Azerbaijan! They are regulars at Glastonbury and Edinburgh Festivals and have all performed regularly at London’s famous Comedy Store every Weds and Sun.
You shout it out, they act it out. Fast, Funny and Furious. No safety nets, just flying by the seat of their pants every time!
ERT . . . more than just theatre.
The theatre is in Lord Roberts Road, Beverley, and the box office is open Tuesday to Friday, from 10am to 5pm and from 10am to noon on Saturdays. For more information call (01482) 874050 or visit www.eastridingtheatre.co.uk
