Thunderbirds Are Go at the Playhouse, 29 Nov

Thunderbirds F.A.B., the hit stage show based on the popular children 's television show of the 1960s, is preparing to blast back into the West End. It opens at the Playhouse Theatre on 29 November 2000.

Andrew Dawson and Gavin Robertson, the creators and original stars of Thunderbirds F.A.B., return to wear rockets on their heads and bring to life the jerky puppet characters of Captain Scarlet, Lady Penelope, Parker and others from the International Rescue team of the cult sci-fi programme. The evening will be a double bill with both Dawson and Robertson presenting Thunderbirds F.A.B. as well as Dawson performing solely Space Panorama, a mime which depicts the landing of the Apollo 11.

The duo created Thunderbirds F.A.B. in 1984, drawing on their childhood memories of Gerry Anderson's classic TV show, which ran for 32 episodes in England between 1964 and 1966. The stage homage affectionately satirises the programme with its space pods, fantastic machines, melodrama, clichés and stilted puppet dialogue.

Thunderbirds F.A.B. was first seen in the West End at the Apollo Theatre in September 1989. In total, the show toured for 11 years with three seasons in the West End (at the Ambassadors and back at the Apollo), three seasons in Japan and several extensive international and UK tours. It last toured the UK in 1993.

The Broadway transsexual musical, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, which is currently at the Playhouse, completes its run this Saturday, 4 November.

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