Steptoe and Son come to Oxford Playhouse

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 said: “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 canon. The work is deeper, darker and more intricate than I’d ever realised, watching as a child.

“I’ve tried to enable and reveal the heart-breaking and perfectly observed characters that had generations glued to their TVs for over a decade. I am so lucky! I feel I am walking through history: my parents’, my grandparents’ and my own. It’s 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 http://www.oxfordplayhouse.com