A brand new stage adaptation of the classic TV series Steptoe and Son comes to Northampton’s Royal & Derngate from Tuesday.
Bound together by birth, business and bloody bad luck, Albert and Harold Steptoe wake up every morning to the same old, same old, sickening sight of each other. Joined at the hip and heart, they bother, bicker and banter their way through life – toying with each other’s frailties like mean kittens. Do they even notice the world turning as they cling on? There are ladies if they would only look around them, and space travel… and Cliff Richard!
Adapted from the legendary scripts of Galton and Simpson, this new co-production between the critically acclaimed Kneehigh and West Yorkshire Playhouse charts the tender, cruel and surprising dance of father and son. Bound by duty, fear and poverty, they are watched over by their female Guardian Angel. She tries to save them, tries to turn their heads to the heavens, but those stubborn old work horses just won’t budge.
Re‑imagined for the 21st century, this darkly comic and deeply moving tale is adapted and directed by Emma Rice, who was behind the hugely successful Brief Encounter and Oedipussy.
Kneehigh describes Steptoe and Son as “a show for anyone who has had a parent, anyone who has had a child, anyone who has wanted to tear the walls down and run across the fields naked.”
Steptoe and Son takes to the Royal stage from November 13-17. Tickets from the box office on 01604 624811 or online at www.royalandderngate.co.uk.
