Father Ted revived as stage show
Image: Whitley Bay Theatre Company
Father Ted will be revived as a stage show this week.
The Whitley Bay Theatre Company will bring the much-loved characters from the sitcom, which first aired between 1995 and 1998, to the stage in a fresh production which runs this week at the North East seaside town.
Writing on their website, the company describe the play as: “Following the trials and tribulations of Father Ted the show is set on the remote fictional Craggy Island off Ireland’s west coast, starring the iconic Father Ted Crilly, alongside fellow priests Father Dougal McGuire and Father Jack Hackett.”
Its director, Chris Johnson, told Giggle Beats: “It’s not been done before. There’s a big thing called Ted Fest, which do re-enactments and that sort of thing.”
He says that it took eight months to write the two and a half hour show, which merges five episodes to create a two act play.
It is understood that the stage show is an original script, and that the sitcom’s scriptwriters Arthur Mathews and Graham Linehan are not involved in the licensed production, which is unconnected to the similar play at the 2012 Edinburgh Fringe.
The cast have produced several trailers and publicity photographs, available on their Facebook page, with nods to the series’ motifs, such as Ted’s penchant for telephoning Larry Duff’s mobile at inopportune moments, and Mrs Doyle’s obsession with nice cups of tea.
The cast includes Martyn Harbertson and Rob Smith as Fathers Ted and Dougal, roles originally played by Dermot Morgan and Ardal O’Hanlon.
Lyndsey Fenn portrays housekeeper Mrs Doyle, with Kevin Bradley as Father Jack.
The amateur theatre group put on a similar production of Fawlty Towers last year, and plan to adapt Frankie Howerd’s sitcom Up Pompeii! next April.
Father Ted runs at The Playhouse, Whitley Bay 6 – 9 November 2013. Tickets are available online or by telephoning 0844 248 1588.
