Devotion, Desire and …. Dancing Queens, a new play written by and starring Ian Hallard and directed by Mark Gatiss is heading to The Lowry, Salford next Month
Devotion, Desire and …. Dancing Queens, a new play written by and starring Ian Hallard and directed by Mark Gatiss is heading to The Lowry, Salford next Month.
The Way Old Friends Do is at The Lowry from Monday 22nd to Saturday 27th May.
In the late 1980s, two Birmingham school friends tentatively come out: one as gay, the other – more shockingly – as an ABBA fan. Thirty years later, they reunite to form the world’s first ABBA tribute band – in drag. Can their friendship survive the tribulations of a life on the road; one full of platform boots, fake beards, and a distractingly attractive stranger?
Simultaneously tender and laugh-out loud funny, this heartfelt story will appeal to anyone who understands how it feels to be a fan: of ABBA or of anyone.
Written by and starring Ian Hallard (The Boys In The Band), the play is directed by Mark Gatiss (Sherlock, Dracula, Doctor Who, The League of Gentlemen).
The cast includes Donna Berlin (Doctors) James Bradshaw (Endeavour), Sara Crowe (Olivier Award winner for Private Lives), Andrew Horton (Jupiter’s Legacy) and Rose Shalloo (Malory Towers).
This wonderfully uplifting play also features the voices of two of the UK’s : best-loved performers, Miriam Margolyes and the much-missed, late Paul O’Grady.
Writer and star Ian Hallard said: “It’s a backstage play, very much in the vein of The Full Monty or Stepping Out: a bunch of plucky amateurs deciding to put on a show. It’s about those characters and their relationships. Although Abba is very much the setting, and it’s part of the show, it’s not a play about Abba it’s a play about being an Abba fan.”
Says director Mark Gatiss: “It’s just the sort of play that people need right now. It’s extremely celebratory, it’s about friendship, about love, about fun. It’s also about life and about time and how it changes us. But principally, it’s just a really entertaining show!”
On working together (Ian and Mark are married), Ian adds: “We’ve done it quite a few times before, but this is going to be a slightly different dynamic because we haven’t worked together as director and writer, and certainly not on stage, so watch this space. But given past experiences, I have no cause for concern!”
James Seabright in association with Jason Haigh-Ellery and the Park Theatre presents the Birmingham Rep production of The Way Old Friends Do.