Ashtead Players bring the West End to Ashtead

Ashtead Players will be bringing the flavour of the West End and Broadway to Ashtead with their next production – ‘One Man, Two Guvnors’ by Richard Bean - which they will be performing from 24 to 27 April 2024at Ashtead Peace Memorial Hall, The Street, Ashtead KT21 2BE.

Many will recognise the title after popular actor and comedian James Corden took the theatre world by storm in the role of Francis, and the play was given a wider audience when a recording of the London production was televised during lockdown giving us all something to smile about.

Director Paul Andrews said: "’One Man Two Guvnors’ was a smash hit in the West End and on Broadway and we are delighted to have been given the chance to stage it in Ashtead. We have amassed a great cast and crew and are excited to have had a number of brand new songs written and arranged by a local band. It's going to make for a cracking night of entertainment."

The play is set in 1963 Brighton, when out-of-work skiffle player Francis Henshall becomes separately employed by two men – Roscoe Crabbe, a gangster, and Stanley Stubbers, an upper-class twit.

Francis tries to keep the two from meeting, in order to avoid each of them learning that Francis is also working for someone else.

Complicating events, Roscoe is really Rachel Crabbe, his twin sister, in disguise. Roscoe has been killed by Rachel's boyfriend, who is none other than Stanley Stubbers.

Complicating it further still is local mobster Charlie the Duck, who has arranged his daughter Pauline's engagement to Roscoe despite her preference for over-the-top amateur actor Alan Dangle. The plot thickens ….

Performances are at 7.45pm from Wednesday 24 to Saturday 27 April 2024 with a Saturday matinee at 2.30pm. Tickets are available on the door for £15 or in advance for £12 via https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/ashteadplayers or box office 07598 121477.

Ashtead Players have been entertaining the residents of Ashtead and beyond for nearly 80 years and have an enviably distinguished artistic record.