As Idiots Assemble: Spitting Image The Musical written by a tour de force comedy team made up of Al Murray (The Pub Landlord) Matt Forde (The Political Party) and double Olivier award winner Sean Foley (The Upstart Crow, The Play What I Wrote)heads towards its West End Premiere at the Phoenix Theatre the full cast of voice-over artists and puppeteers is released.
As well as co-writing the piece Al Murray and Matt Forde are part of the stellar line-up of voice-over artists. They are joined by: Oliver Chris (Green Wing, The IT Crowd, andPrince William in Charles III on Broadway and on film) Kathryn Drysdale (Bridgerton, TheWindsors, Christmas on Mistletoe Farm, The Bubble, The Queen and I and Plebs), Jason Forbes (The Tracy Ullman Show, The Mash Report and Horrible Histories: The Movie andBorg Mcenroe), Luke Kempner (Spitting Image, Steph’s Packed Lunch, The Last Leg, Stand-up Sketch Show and The Imitation Game), Lorna Laidlaw (Doctors, Coronation Street, Getting It Straight and A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Jackie Lam (Strangers, All that Remains and Emma) Shri Patel (Rishi Sunak in This England, Emmerdale and Pennyworth), Jess Robinson (Spitting Image, The Last Leg, Stars in Their Ears, and The Rise and Fall of Little Voice and Britain’s Got Talent), Debra Stephenson (The Impressions Show, Dead Ringers, Rich Hall’s Election Breakdown, Newzoids, Coronation Street and Bad Girls) and Ronan Summers (Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom and Krays: Code of Silence, Doctor Who and Episodes).
The talented ensemble who are be bringing the puppets to life on stage is Antony Antunes, Rianna Ash, Katie Bradley, Emily Essery, Kaidan Dawkins, Bertie Harris, Pena Iiambo, Jackie Lam, Bright Ong, Will Palmer, Helen Parke, Rayo Patel, Tom Quinn, Richard Vorster and Faye Weerasinghe.
The critically acclaimed show, which was developed at Birmingham Rep, is directed by the Rep’s Artistic Director Sean Foley alongside a creative team spearheaded by the original Spitting Image co-creator, Roger Law.
Director and co-writer Sean Foley said’ ‘I am thrilled that my first ever new production for The Rep as Artistic Director is transferring to the West End. Spitting Image The Musical has been an amazing journey so far… From throwing away 3 entire scripts, to the constant re-writes and creating new puppets and characters which reflect the crazy world of UK culture and politics, we have been delighted that our audiences so far have laughed as hard and as long as they have. Now, with our amazing cast of puppeteers and voice artists, (not to mention the incredible design, dancing, musical numbers, video, sound, and of course the amazing puppets themselves created by a team advised by our Spirit Guide, original co-creator of Spitting Image, Roger Law), we have been updating and reflecting on the most recent events possible… and can exclusively reveal what ‘really’ happened behind the scenes in the week leading up to the King’s Coronation.’
Introduced by Master of Ceremonies Sir Ian McKellen, the musical features a stellar line-up of over 100 puppets of the great and the not-so-good. Tom Cruise is tasked by His Majesty The King to create the UK’s very own ‘Magnificent Seven’ of celebrity misfits – Tom Cruise, Greta Thunberg, Meghan Markle, Tyson Fury, RuPaul, Angela Rayner and Idris Elba – to save the nation from a cabal of dark forces seeking to destroy it – that’s all the usual suspects. And James Corden. They are joined by: Ant & Dec, Donald Trump, Elon Musk, Keir Starmer, Stormzy, Vladimir Putin, The Tory Party Cabinet and many many many many many more.
The BAFTA and Emmy award-winning satirical Spitting Image television series originally ran for 18 series between 1984 and 1996 and was watched by over 15 million viewers. It recently made a popular return to TV on BritBox, where across official social media channels, Spitting Image content has been hugely popular with over 200 million views globally, three number 1 trending videos on YouTube and achieved critical praise across the political divide. Three one-off specials for ITV have also seen huge success on terrestrial television: with a 4.4 million audience achieving ITV’s highest Saturday night ratings at that time in four years.
Idiots Assemble: Spitting Image The Musical will run from Wednesday 24 May to Saturday 26 August 2023 with a Press Performance on 14 June 2023 at 7pm. Tickets are on sale from https://www.thephoenixtheatre.co.uk/shows/idiots-assemble-spitting-image-the-musical.
Phoenix Theatre, Charing Cross Road, London, WC2H 0JP
Tickets: from £25
Age Guidance: from 12+ Content Warning: Contains some strong language
Box Office: 0844 871 7615 – https://www.thephoenixtheatre.co.uk/shows/idiots-assemble-spitting-image-the-musical
