Steptoe and Son

Synopsis

Two Men. Two World Wars. Two lives knitted together as tight as a thrice darned sock. Bound together by birth, business and bloody bad luck, Albert and Harold Steptoe (played by Mike Shepherd and Dean Nolan) wake up every morning to the same old, same old, sickening sight of each other. Based on the BBC sitcom by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, these two are joined at the hip and heart, they bother, bicker and banter their way through life - toying with each others 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! "Open your eyes" we shout from the stalls! "Look up at the moon and count the stars!" But they can't. Or won't. Families, eh? Adapted from the legendary Steptoe and Son script, this new production charts the tender, cruel and surprising dance of father and son. Darkly comic, and deeply moving, this brand new co-production with the incredible Kneehigh is 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.

Our Review:

Michael Coveney - 21 March 2013

Even people who weren't around when the sitcom Steptoe and Son by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson aired on BBC television between 1962 and 1974 will know certain things: it was in black and white, it was about a father and son locked in a love/hate relationship in a filthy London scrap yard, and it was very, very funny.

Uncowed by its pedigree and reputation, Kneehigh's director Emma Rice, in association with the West Yorkshire Playhouse, has devised this affectionate tribute show that transcends its own origins and becomes something different: a music hall play of dreams and accusation discreetly knitted from four of the original scripts.

Mike Shepherd, dapper and finical, as grumpy old Albert, and Dean Nolan, huge, demonstrative and deliriously light on his feet, as his middle-aged son, Harold, waste no time imitating Wilfrid Brambell and Harry H Corbett (one of Joan Littlewood...

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Latest User Review

Dee - 24 March 2013:

I was very disappointed in this production (having seen the original Steptoe and Son on the telly years ago which I was a kid) and as I hadn't read any reviews I think that my expectation was that it would be similar to the TV show. One thing that really annoyed was the accents of the "Albert" and "Harry"... when Harry said the iconic "you dirty old man", which lets face, it was the part you always wanted to hear and it carried so much disguest in the words in each episode, it sounded too west country and had none of the impact. One or two parts I found funny - when she flipped the bird and the voice over scene... apart from that it was dead and humourless....

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