DESCRIPTION
PETE AND DUD IN THE AFTERLIFE THE PITCH
Dudley Moore as I am sure you know is a Hollywood legend..Peter Cook his partner for 18 years is revered in Britain as the Comedians Comedian..in a world wide poll by top comedians
A original play which I co –wrote and has had packed houses and great reviews
Welcome to the dark side of comedy
Peter Cook & Dudley Moore – who died at odds – are reunited. Dud awakes in a bar in a comedians’ limbo to face his old sparring partner Pete – who’s not best happy as he’s been waiting there for seven years.
They need to resolve their differences and atone for Derek and Clive – the Great Programmer (God, a reference to the BBC) is a bit pissed off about the blasphemy. Together, they need to confront their past and face their future in Heaven or Hell.
In Heaven, Pete informs Dud,
“ They’re gorgeous: Mother Theresa’s got enormous breasts, like Jane Mansfield, Gandhi’s got a washboard stomach and a 6 pack, and Joan of Arc has a sylph-like figure and all-over tan. But ask them the capital of Denmark, they haven’t got a clue.
But Heaven’s not necessarily where they’re heading.
Rather like Scrooge in A Christmas Carol, Pete and Dud are made to see the error of their ways through the visitations of a series of tortured souls – comedians, who they knew & who were their contemporaries and rivals. Tony Hancock, for example, is the villain of the piece – lampooned by Cook in the 60s as Tony Halfcock, he is eager to see the double act fry and gathers evidence against them for Judgement. The other comics – Charles Hawtrey, Peter Sellers,as Peter says “a man inhibited by the characters he inhabited” Leonard Rossiter, Kenneth Williams & Frankie Howerd – each play pivotal roles in Pete & Dud’s journey.
Cook and Moore broke boundaries in their own time – so the confines of Heaven and Hell have problems containing them….. This is essentially the story of a relationship – as Dud neatly sums it up
“This is like a marriage and for years none of us has wanted to speak the truth and now it’s the time of reckoning”.
This is in no way a biography Instead, it’s an innovative way to explore and re-tell the history of some of the C20th’s comedy greats. There are flavours of Alice in Wonderland, Cor Blimey, the film adaptation of the stage play Cleo, Camping Emanuelle & Dick, Heaven Can Wait, Sartres In Camera, and of course Bedazzled, not the Liz Hurley crap. The dialogue is entirely original – in the style of Cook & Moore and the other comedians.
Yes its funny but its also moving and at times bitter ..as Pete says to Dud
“Youd rather hide in your frightfully pink house in LA than speak to your old mate in blighty ..cos we’ve forgotten about that strand of our existence…if strand it be deemed..more like a life line to reality if you ever wanted to grab hold of it”
I’m a huge fan of Peter Cook. He is the punk of comedy – but sadly he & Dudley were rather like John The Baptist forever cursed to wander the wilderness of the BBC archive whereas Morecambe & Wise were Jesus Christ highlight of every Xmas schedule.
Because of its nature and the fact that many of these comics are well known in the States and Australia I think it would suit the international market
- It has been successfully produced at the Edinburgh Fringe, and Leicester Square Theatre to great reviews and will open at Ashcroft Theatre Croydon UK 6th-9th.Jan 2010, 9th being weirdly the 15th anniversary of Peter’s death
The gags come fast & furious in Hansler & Greenwood’s hilarious & often moving piece" (West End Extra)
“Hansler’s Peter Cook is spot-on” “..I was craving for more…encore” (Camden New Journal)
“A belly laugh from beginning to end…inspired…Highly recommended” (Morning Star)
Me, I played Peter in this play in all its incarnations, am part of the male female double act Teakshow and also Peter in the play Pete& Me at New End & Devonshire Pk Eastbourne, and am an actor, writer, comic, producer .
Jonathan Hansler
07960357074,
jhbrittan@aol.com,
http://43696.ccpactor.com/
TEAM
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