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Cliff Richard's Young Ones Adapted for StageDate: 21 June 2011 John Plews’ musical comedy The Young Ones, based on the 1961 film by Sidney J Furie, will premiere at the Queen's Theatre Hornchurch this autumn. The show, which runs from 26 August to 17 September 2011, forms part of the theatre's newly announced season. The film starred singer Cliff Richard and followed him and his friends as they fought to save their local youth club from demolition. Facing a ruthless property tycoon and his bulldozers, the group decides to raise money with their own rock concert in order to save their beloved club. Set in London in the early 1960s, the film features a soundtrack by Richard and his band The Shadows. The album reached number one on the UK album charts in January 1962. John Plews’ production will be packed with Richard’s hits, including “The Young Ones”, “Got A Funny Feeling”, “Living Doll” and “We Say Yeah!”. The title of the film was also used for the popular, but very different, alternative comedy series The Young Ones (1982-1984), which made references to Cliff Richard throughout its run and which used the Cliff Richard and The Shadows song "The Young Ones" as its theme. The Young Ones will be presented by the resident company at the Queen’s Theatre, cut to the chase…, with direction by Matt Devitt and design by Rodney Ford. It is followed in the season by John Godber’s comedy Up ‘n’ Under from 30 September to 15 October, and the premiere of Chris Bond's new adaptation of The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde from 28 October to 19 November. - Matt Hannigan Related Content

Reader Comments
| Comment | Date | | Last night was the first preview and came introduced ('South Pacific' style) by director Matt Devitt. Hopefully this is not a permanent trend to make upfront excuses for what is about to begin, although Mr Devitt was rather more humorous than at the Barbican recently. His cute banter could have kept us amused all night, perhaps he started life as a TV warm-up artist or Redcoat.
A few minutes in and I felt it was all a bit amdram but then I convinced myself that the director and cast had cleverly portrayed the innocence and naivety of the early sixties, rather than putting a mod' PC spin on the movie. However, when Hamilton Black (Simon Jessop) shows his disgust for coffee drinking youth an opportunity was missed to make a contemporary reference to the torching of retail stores: the 99.9% adult, grey and white (sadly) audience would have liked that. Queen's Hornchurch is home to 'Cut To The Chase', an all singing, dancing and instrument playing troupe so they are stretched at times; but like it or not, multi-skilling is now power for the cause in entertainment. I did feel I was at a mass audition for 'Chess' but Revel-Horwood was nowhere to be seen. The 'video' screens in the wings are, in the main, superfluous and my pet hate unless authentic and essential - don't pretend to be multimedia.
The show doesn't attract a wide demographic, just local Essex oldies like me re-living youth, surely a few grandchildren could have been dragged along to this family show? I'm off again tonight with my six zone travel card to almost the end of the District Line; pleasantly surprised that Hornchurch isn't beyond the pale but inside the M25. Queen's is fifteen minutes walk from the tube, buses and taxis are to hand. The show will get slicker; book now whilst a few seats remain, they needn't fret about reviews, it's almost sold out. A word of thanks for bringing one of the Cliff Richard trilogy to stage, perhaps 'Summer Holiday' and 'Wonderful Life' will be next. [nota bene: even better at second preview 27th Aug., compared to West End it's a bargain at around £20 and prog's at only £2.50. Mr. Devitt assured me he only presents the previews]. - Stevie | 28 Aug 11 |
| | 'The Young Ones' was a boring film - now it is going to be a boring stage production! Help!!! - Execelsior | 21 Jun 11 |
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