Ian Dury and the Blockheads’ musical Reasons To Be Cheerful is set for West Yorkshire Playhouse this month. The show, which is a Graeae Theatre Company production in association with the Belgrade Theatre Coventry, will take over the Quarry stage from Tuesday 10th – Saturday 14th October.
Part gig, part play, Reasons to be Cheerful celebrates the infectious music of Ian Dury and the Blockheads in a bold and jubilant coming-of-age tale. Coinciding with the 40th anniversary of Ian Dury and the Blockheads’ seminal album New Boots and Panties!!, the punk rock production celebrates the band’s greatest hits.
It’s 1979. Labour has just lost the General Election to the Tories. Strikes rock the nation and Ian Dury and the Blockheads’ Reasons to be Cheerful (Part 3) is climbing the charts. Die-hard fans Vinnie and Colin are on a mission to see Ian Dury and the Blockheads play Hammersmith Odeon. With no tickets to a sold-out gig, their journey throws more at them than they could have ever expected.
Featuring stone-cold classic songs including Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick; Plaistow Patricia; Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll; Sweet Gene Vincent; What A Waste and the titular Reasons to be Cheerful (Part 3), the show also features new song If It Can’t Be Right Then It Must Be Wrong written exclusively for the production by members of Ian Dury’s band The Blockheads and Graeae performer John Kelly.
Reasons To Be Cheerful is directed by pioneering disabled led theatre company Graeae’s Artistic Director Jenny Sealey MBE, and performed by an inclusive cast of 14 actor-musicians. Using Graeae’s signature theatrical language, all performances of Reasons To Be Cheerful seamlessly include British Sign Language, audio description and creative captioning.
Reasons To Be Cheerful plays at West Yorkshire Playhouse from 10th – 14th October 2017. Book online at wyp.org.uk or call the Box Office on 0113 213 77 00.
