Cheap & Cheerful (1998)

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World Premiere: 18 December 1998
Venue: Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough

Description: Revue
Composer: Denis King

Published / Available to Stage: No

History

Cheap And Cheerful marked a return to revue for Alan Ayckbourn for the first time in 12 years. In collaboration with composers Denis King - their first collaboration together - and Simon Cryer, Alan paid homage to the very worst of end of the pier variety shows. The show was premiered in the McCarthy at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, in December 1998 and was intended to be a piece of light relief for an adult audience over the Christmas season.

The programme and advertising built up the illusion this was a genuine variety show with the expected acts and dancing girls. However, once the show began, the various acts failed to turn up, leaving the host Reg Pittock to desperately draw a show from a deputy stage manager, an usher and a member of the audience, leading to an increasingly bizarre set of acts including a near fatal disappearing act, a sock puppet rendition of Hamlet, an imaginary dog-show and a sing-a-long.

Apparently several members of the audience were expecting a real variety show and walked out of the theatre! The reaction for this lightweight and extremely silly piece was generally positive though and in Reg Pittock, Alan created a memorably monstrous comic character (who is also name-checked on the television in the play Private Fears In Public Places).

"I thought I would like to do something for the adults, particularly over Christmas, but going into the New Year. I came up with the concept of a revue and host, Reg Pittock. I want to push this guy as being real! He's a sort of small town Les Dawson, who's apparently come to help the theatre in its moment of need. It's also about the way most of the British public are very happy to make complete idiots of themselves at the drop of a hat. We possibly are a reserved race but then you look at something like karaoke or these shows on television."
Alan Ayckbourn (Scarborough Evening News, 14 October 1998)

Premiere Production Details (1998)

First performance: 18 December 1998
World premiere: 21 December 1998
Final performance: 30 January 1999
Venue: Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough
Staging: End-stage (The McCarthy)

Director: Alan Ayckbourn
Music by: Denis King & Simon Cryer
Musical Director: Simon Cryer
Design: Pip Leckenby
Lighting: Kath Geraghty
Choreography: Sheila Carter
Character
Reg Pittock
Vernon Dickinson
Tracy Chapcraft
Enid Watherstone
The MD
Actor
Robert Austin
Julian Forsyth
Dorothy Atkinson
Nicola Sloane
Simon Cryer
Stage Manager: Dawn Erica Dyson
Deputy Stage Manager: Fleur Linden Beeley
Assistant Stage Manager: Sara Wells

Further Reading

Cheap & Cheerful has not been published.

Manuscripts (research & reference)
An original manuscript for Cheap & Cheerful is held in the Ayckbourn Archive in the Borthwick Institute for Archives at the University of York. The manuscript is accessible onsite for research purposes.

Reference Books
Unseen Ayckbourn (Simon Murgatroyd, Lulu Books, 2023, ISBN 9781447761723)
Denis King: Key Changes - A Musical Memoir (pp.261-268, Ledgewood Press, 2015, ISBN 9781508578017)

Reviews
Reg Reigns Over State Of Chaos (Simon Murgatroyd, Scarborough Evening News, 22 December 1998)
Cheap And Cheerful (David Jeffels, The Stage, 7 January 1998)
Cheap And Cheerful (Charles Hutchinson, Yorkshire Evening Press, 22 December 1998)
For Better And For Worse (Lynda Murdin, Yorkshire Post, 23 December 1998)
All research and original material in this section of Alan Ayckbourn's Official Website is by Simon Murgatroyd M.A. and copyright of Haydonning Ltd. All other material is copyright of the named copyright holder. Please do not reproduce any material without permission of the copyright holder. For enquiries, email: archive@alanayckbourn.net