Two world comedy premieres are coming to the Birmingham Rep to hopefully help dispel some of the current economic gloom.
The already exciting autumn and winter season at the Centenary Square venue has been added to in style with a feast of new shows and events.
The two world premieres, which are set to start 2023, see the anarchic Spitting Image team live on stage for the very first time.
Spitting Image Live: Featuring The Liar King, will run from 1 February to 11 March 2023, directed by The Rep’s Artistic Director Sean Foley.
That will run alongside The Way Old Friends Do, a new comedy by Ian Hallard and directed by Mark Gatiss, which also gets its world premiere from 17 February to 4 March 2023.
Spitting Image Live will feature a monstrous ‘cast’ of stars including puppets of The Liar King (Boris Johnson), Tom Cruise, Adele, Tyson Fury, Harry and Meghan, Vladimir Putin, Beyonce, and many more.
Sean, whose Olivier nominated production of Upstart Crow returns to the West End this Autumn, said: “It’s not often you get to direct Tom Cruise, Stormzy, Boris Johnson, Beyonce, and Her Majesty the Queen all on the same bill… I’m thrilled to be part of the team bringing this iconic British comedy to the stage.
“From the scathing to the silly, from brutal political satire to sending up celebrity, Spitting Image has always fearlessly pointed at the Emperors of our society and gleefully stripped them naked. This live show will be no different.”
The show has been written by Sean, Al Murray and Matt Forde.
Spitting Image co-creator Roger Law added: “Birmingham Rep and Spitting Image have been receiving numerous calls from friends of Boris Johnson pleading with us not to cancel his puppet from our theatre show.”
The Way Old Friends Do, which goes on a UK tour after The Rep, is set in 1988 where two Birmingham school friends tentatively come out to one another: one as gay, the other – more shockingly – as an ABBA fan.
Nearly 30 years later, a chance meeting sees them decide to form the world’s first ABBA tribute band – in drag!
In addition, 2023 sees Apphia Campbell perform Black Is The Color of My Voice (9-11 Feb 23), the extraordinary show about Nina Simone.
Meanwhile, new additions to the 2022 autumn programme include Ballet Black, which celebrates 20 years with two new works on 28 September entitled Black Sun and Say It Loud.
Additionally, there will be two comedy nights in The Door in October – Desi Central Comedy Show (15 Oct 22) and COBO Comedy Shutdown, featuring Richard Blackwood (22 Oct 22) plus a screening of one-hour documentary The Influence of Shakespeare on Bollywood (20 Oct 22).
To book tickets for all of these new productions visit Birmingham-rep.co.uk, call 0121 236 4455 or visit the box office during opening hours.
