West Berkshire world premiere of Ian Hislop and Nick Newman's homage to Spike Milligan
On the 20th anniversary of the death of the brilliant British-Irish comedian, John Dagleish is to star as Spike Milligan in Ian Hislop and Nick Newman’s new comedy Spike, opening at The Watermill on Thursday, January 27 and running to Saturday, March 5.
It’s the booming 50s and Britain is in the clutches of Goon mania as men, women and children across the country scramble to get their ear to a wireless for another instalment of The Goon Show. While Harry Secombe and Peter Sellers get down to the serious business of becoming overnight celebrities, fellow Goon and chief writer Spike finds himself pushing the boundaries of comedy, and testing the patience of the BBC.
Flanked by his fellow Goons and bolstered by the efforts of irrepressible sound assistant Janet, Spike takes a flourishing nosedive off the cliffs of respectability, and mashes up his haunted past to create the comedy of the future.
Will Spike’s dogged obsession with finding the funny elevate The Goons to soaring new heights, or will the whole thing come crashing down with the stroke of a potato peeler?
Ian Hislop and Nick Newman said: “Writing Spike gave us the opportunity to celebrate the genius of the founding father of modern comedy, explore what inspired him and steal all his jokes”.
Olivier Award-winning actor John Dagleish (Sunny Afternoon, Lark Rise to Candleford, A Christmas Carol) has been cast as ‘Spike Milligan’. TV comedienne Margaret Cabourn-Smith (Motherland, Miranda, Buffering) will star as ‘Janet’ with Stephen Fry voicing the ‘BBC Announcer’. They will be joined by George Kemp (recently seen in Bridgerton, and soon to star in Amazon’s Call My Agent) as ‘Peter Sellers’, Jeremy Lloyd (The Comedy About a Bank Robbery, Trial by Laughter) as ‘Harry Secombe’, James Mack (The Watermill’s The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Rivals, Macbeth and Journey’s End) as ‘Denis Main-Wilson / Peter Eton’, Ellie Morris (The Play That Goes Wrong, Mischief Movie Night, The Comedy About A Bank Robbery for Mischief Theatre company) playing ‘June’ and Robert Mountford (The Habit of Art, The Haunting of Alice Bowles for Original Theatre Company, House and Garden for The Watermill) as ‘BBC Executive’.
The Bagnor theatre’s artistic director Paul Hart, who is directing the production, said: “It’s been great to work with Ian and Nick on this homage to one of the most iconic voices in modern comedy.
“The play will commemorate 20 years since his death (he’s still ill then??) and will be equally good fun to those who know the Goons and to audiences who are new to Spike’s distinctive brand of humour. And how we all need a laugh at the moment!”
