Theatre News

Ian Dury Hit Me! Visits Garrick Post-Edinburgh

| London's West End |

21 July 2010

Hit Me! The Life and Rhymes of Ian Dury, which premiered on the London fringe in 2008, will return to the capital when it visits the West End’s Garrick Theatre from 9 to 11 September 2010 as part of a new UK tour.

Starring Mark White as Dury alongside Josh Darcy as Fred ‘Spider’ Rowe, the new production opens at next month’s Edinburgh Fringe, where it runs at the Gilded Balloon from 4 to 30 August.

Starting in 1980, Hit Me! looks at three
periods in Dury’s life: the man at the top of his game, the man who
nearly blew it and the man who gave his best to everything. By his side
throughout too was his minder, tour manager and loyal friend, ex-con
Fred ‘Spider’ Rowe. The show
is written and directed by Jeff Merrifield.

Born in Harrow in 1942, Dury was left disabled after
contracting polio at the age of seven. At the peak of his 1970s success
Ian Dury, with his band The Blockheads, was at the vanguard of the punk
and post punk movements. Part furious iconoclast, part music hall
entertainer, Dury was one of the true originals of the English music
scene. He died after a battle with liver cancer on 27 March 2000.

Hit Me! The Life and Rhymes of Ian Dury is produced by Seabright Productions, Irving Rappaport and Playback Art.

Currently at the Garrick, David Essex musical All the Fun of the Fair finishes on 5 September.