Shirebrook Town Council launch Live & Local events with comedy by local writers

Live and Local bring you Big Daddy vs Giant Haystacks

The Foundry Theatre Group presents Big Daddy vs Giant Haystacks

Shirebrook Village Hall, Park Road, Shirebrook. NG20 8PE

Wednesday 4 February 2015 at 7.30 pm

Live & Local, the community touring scheme that brings professional live performances to unusual spaces is teaming up with Shirebrook Town Council to bring exciting events to the town The inaugural show which launches the partnership is a hilariously nostalgic comedy 'Big Daddy vs Giant Haystacks’ written and directed by local award winning duo Brian Mitchell and Joseph Nixon. It will take place in Shirebrook Village Hall on Wednesday 4 February 2015 at 7.30 p.m.

Brian Mitchell and Joseph Nixon share a string of writing credits for stage and TV including sketches for Radio 4’s ‘Jo Caulfield won’t  shut up’ and BBC1’s ‘Alive and Kicking’ as well as the TV comedy shows ‘Slightly Filthy’ (LWT) and ‘The Ornate Johnsons’ Edwardian Spectacular’ (BBC 4). The pair met at St Josephs Primary School in Shirebrook and were both born at the local Kings Mill hospital.

Brian commented ‘I grew up in the town (then a village); my family still live there and I am a frequent visitor.’ They both attended St. Mary's Catholic High School in Chesterfield, and it was on the long, lumbering 81 bus that trundled from Warsop, through Shirebrook, Scarcliffe, Hillstown, Bolsover, Duckmanton, Arkwright, Calow to Chesterfield and back again that they sat together twice daily and began writing plays and sketches to pass the time.

Brian’s father, also Brian, was a well-known local figure. From 1978-82 he ran Kissing Gate Market, also known as the Friday Night Market which was hugely successful and popular and pioneered out-of-hours shopping. Last year he died. He was cremated in Mansfield Crematorium on 7th February and the performance of Big Daddy vs Giant Haystacks at Shirebrook will be virtually on the anniversary of his death so is a very special performance for Brian.

The show is about that sports phenomenon of the late 1970s when,at  4pm every Saturday tens of millions of Britons watched two fat men, Big Daddy and Giant Haystacks  pretend to fight each other.

It will have audiences, whether they are into wresting or not,  cheering, booing and maybe shedding a tear for those innocent days when great sportsmen wore bizarre leotards, sparkly top hats and the odd mask.

Could do for wrestling what the film The Damned United did for Brian Clough ….. Great performance. Verdict: Knockout.’ – Quentin Letts, Daily Mail

Tickets for the show are priced at £8 (adults), £6 (under18/Senior Citizens) and are now available from Shirebrook Town Council on 01623 742475 or Shirebrook Leisure Centre 01623 748313 . Show details available www.liveandlocal.org.uk

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