Overview
Running time: 1 hour 50 minutes approximately, with an interval
Recreating the unique spirit of 1940’s radio plays and brilliantly evoking a dinner-jacketed age of casual imperialism and stiff upper lips, The Fitzrovia Radio Hour’s Christmas Special comes to the St. James Studio for a strictly limited festive season.
Performed with cut-glass theatricality blending homage and satire, Fitzrovia mixes the chauvinist attitudes of 1940s Britain with sharp contemporary humour to produce a heady comic cocktail.
Featuring these tip-top festive stories, the show is generously sponsored by Soho Special Pipe Tobacco – “Soho. So-ho. So-HO HO HO HO HO!”
IT’S A PASSABLE LIFE! When a failed businessman tries to jump from Vauxhall Bridge on Christmas Eve, a mysterious woman comes to his rescue…
THE WOMAN WHO DIDN’T PREPARE! A young housewife finds the pressures of Christmas too much to bear. But will “taking it easy” this year shepherd in disaster?
BOXING DAY CHAMP! Former world boxing champion Ted Miller is forced to dust down his gloves to make ends meet. Can he conquer his demons and find glory?
THE (CHRISTMAS) DAY THEY STOLE THE EIFFEL TOWER! The heist of the century! On Christmas Day! What gang of insanely brave daredevils could be behind such a caper?
The Fitzrovians began in 2008, when founding members restaged vintage radio plays from America. They enjoyed wearing pencil moustaches so much that they were inspired to write their own material in a period style. Since then they have won widespread acclaim and performed extensively to sold-out houses including a season at Trafalgar Studios and a year-long residency at Shakespeare’s Globe, London (Swan at The Globe / Underglobe).
The Fitzrovia Radio Hour’s Christmas Special stars Tim Dewberry, William Findley, Alex Gilbert, Fiona Sheehan and Dan Starkey. It is written by Tom Mallaburn, Martin Pengelly, Jon Edgley Bond and Phil Mulryne. The director is Jon Edgley Bond.
‘Vowels are as neatly clipped as the gentlemen’s moustaches, upper lips as stiff as their shirt collars, and emotions are kept as concealed as a woman’s knee… Huzzah for the Empire’s finest!’ Mail On Sunday
‘Dramatic entertainment redolent of a bygone era… recreates its chosen era with just the right mixture of fondness and irreverence… jolly good show, chaps!’ The Guardian
★★★★ ‘Comically ingenious… deliciously daft’ The Times
★★★★ ‘A triumph of visual comedy’ Time Out
★★★★ ‘Absolutely spiffing show that recreates the innocent spirit of Forties live radio drama.’ Telegraph
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