KNEEHIGH MAKE A TRIUMPHANT RETURN
WITH RAY GALTON AND ALAN SIMPSON’S
STEPTOE AND SON
at Oxford Playhouse
Tuesday 16 to Saturday 20 October
Following the storming success of The Wild Bride, The Red Shoes and Brief Encounter.
Kneehigh returns to Oxford Playhouse in a collaboration with West Yorkshire Playhouse,
with Steptoe and Son from Tuesday 16 to Saturday 20 October.
Adapted and directed by Emma Rice, from the legendary scripts of Galton and Simpson,
this new production charts the tender, cruel and surprising dance of father and son. Taking on
the roles of one of television’s most famous pairings are Kneehigh company founder Mike
Shepherd playing Albert and Dean Nolan who will be making his Kneehigh debut as
dreamer Harold. Steptoe and Son is the story of two men, two world wars and two lives
knitted together as tight as a thrice darned sock.
Emma commented on the project, “The words, situations and basic genius of this script are all
the work and imagination of Ray Galton and Alan Simpson. I laughed and wept in equal
measure as I made my way through the scripts that make up the Steptoe and Son cannon.
The work is deeper, darker and more intricate than I’d ever realized, watching as a child.”
She went on to say, “I’ve tried to enable and reveal the heart-breaking and perfectly observed
characters that had generations glued to their TV’s for over a decade. I am so lucky! I feel I
am walking through history: my parents’, my grandparents’ and my own. It has been the
chance of a lifetime to dive into such an iconic and important body of work.”
Renowned as masters of storytelling, Kneehigh’s production of Steptoe and Son is a darkly
comic and deeply moving show; a 20th century icon, re imagined for the new millennium.
Tickets for Steptoe and Son at Oxford Playhouse are available from the Ticket Office on
01865 305305 or book online at www.oxfordplayhouse.com
– ENDS –
NOTES TO EDITORS
Press night: Tuesday 16 October
Dates: Tuesday 16 to Saturday 20 October
Times: Tue to Thu & Sat eves: 7.30pm Fri : 8pm Thu & Sat mats: 2.30pm
Tickets: £9.50 - £25 Booking fee may apply
Post show talk: Wed 17 October
Kneehigh Theatre
Based in Cornwall, Kneehigh is celebrated as one of the UK’s most exciting theatre companies. For
nearly 30 years, the company has created vigorous, popular and challenging theatre for audiences
locally, nationally and internationally. Using a multi-talented team of performers, directors, designers,
sculptors, administrators, engineers, musicians and writers, Kneehigh perform with the joyful anarchy
that audiences have come to expect from a ground-breaking theatre company.
For further information, interviews or images please contact:
Madeleine Woolgar, Press & Marketing Officer
T: 01865 305388 | E: madeleine.woolgar@oxfordplayhouse.com