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Roy Smiles’ award winning Tony Hancock play, “The Lad Himself”, revived

By John Freeman on March 2, 2022

Roy Smiles’ award winning Tony Hancock play, The Lad Himself, is back on stage in London from 20th April to 1st May 2022.

Directed by, and starring Mark Brailsford, the play, from the team behind The Treason Show, will be performed Upstairs at the Gatehouse, in Highgate, N6 4BD.

The play by Roy Smiles, author of Ying Tong, A Walk with The Goons, and Pythonesque. is described as a gleefully exuberant and reverential tribute to the comedy of Tony Hancock, and the writing of Galton and Simpson. Mark first performed it at the Edinburgh Festival 10 years ago and later at the Brighton Festival.

It’s being revived now as part of fundraising efforts to continue The Treason Show, complementing an on ongoing GoFundMe campaign to continue to produce further outings for the production that has garnered fans for both the stage version and TV spin-off, which has completed its run to date.

Hang-dog 1950’s comedian Tony Hancock, after his death in Australia, finds himself in a very familiar limbo, the waiting room from The Blood Donor. Yet again, he is confronted by the same officialdom, red tape, pomposity and bureaucracy in the afterlife that drove him mad in life.

During the course of an evening, he manage to alienate vicars, clowns, cleaning ladies, RAF pilots, doctors, nurses, the entire population of Croydon and St. Peter – herself. Not only does he discover that St. Peter is a woman, who bears a startling resemblance to Hattie Jaques, but that God himself is a woman, who may or may not have a beard…

• For more information about The Lad Himself and to book tickets head to this page on The Treason Show web site

• The Lad Himself | 20th April to 1st May 2022 | Upstairs at the Gatehouse, Highgate Village, London N6 4BD |Box Office: 020 8340 3488 Web: www.upstairsatthegatehouse.com

John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.