West End comedy hit back after 22 years

Katherine Parkinson and Steve Pemberton are to star in a West End revival of Terry Johnson’s comedy Dead Funny.

Pemberton plays Richard, the president of the Dead Funny Society, which celebrates dead comedians and holds a comedy wake in the week in which Frankie Howerd and Benny Hill both die.

But amid the celebration, his relationship with his wife Eleanor, to be played by IT Crowd star Parkinson, is falling apart, because she wants children and he doesn’t.

In an interview five years ago, League Of Gentlemen star Pemberton cited Zoë Wanamaker’s portrayal of Eleanor as the best performance he’d ever seen.  

Of her role in the original 1994 production, he said: ‘Dead Funny is a brilliant ensemble piece, but Wanamaker carries it. In comedy it's easy to be over the top, but she kept reminding us that these were real people having a real marriage break-up.

‘Dead Funny often moved from a joke to a devastating, sad line, and each of those emotions was heightened by the fact that they were placed side by side. 

The new revival, which opens on October 27, also stars Ralf Little as Nick, Emily Berrington as Lisa and Rufus Jones as Richard.

Producer Nica Burns said: ‘A revival of this wonderful play is long overdue. Like life, it’s as funny as it is moving and needs an outstandingly talented cast.’

The play will run at the Vaudeville Theatre on the Strand until February 4.

Published: 9 Sep 2016