MEMBERS of the St John’s Players will be Takin’ Over the Asylum for their annual production at the Swan Theatre.
Although its setting in a Glasgow psychiatric hospital may not suggest comedy, much of it is very funny as the patients can also see wry humour in their situations.
When Ready Eddie McKenna, Soul Survivor and replacement window salesman, arrives to re-launch a defunct hospital radio station in a psychiatric unit, he turns more than the ramshackle station upside down.
The whisky-drinking would-be DJ meets the irrepressible Campbell whose dreams seem untouched by reality, the hyper organised Rosalie who is fighting a one woman war against germs, the electronic genius Fergus and the brittle self-destructive Francine.
As the patients battle with perception and prejudice as much as illness, Eddie, armed only with his soul music record collection, transforms their lives as well as his own in this hilarious and profoundly moving play.
The play premiered in Glasgow, where the story is set, in 2013, but was based on a television series of some twenty years’ ago starring a very young David Tennant.
St John’s Players are a very well established local group who have been performing in the Worcester area since 1949.
Recently at the Swan they have performed a psychological thriller, Dangerous Obsession and the very popular, Vicar of Dibley.
This choice of, Takin’ Over the Asylum, emphasises their versatility and rehearsals are now in their final stages.
The cast has thoroughly enjoyed getting to grips with the fantastic characters in the play, the humour, the pathos, the wonderful music, and not least, the Scottish accents required.
It promises to be an amusing, yet thought provoking evening.
The show will take place from Tuesday (November 10) to next Saturday (November 14) at 7.30pm.
Tickets are available from Worcester Live at Huntingdon Hall, by calling 01905 611427 or on the door.
