Comedy could hit theatres next year

John Cleese has written a stage version of Monty Python's Life Of Brian.

Now the 81-year-old comic says the show could be hitting theatres in the latter half of next year, Covid permitting.

But unlike Spamalot – Eric Idle’s loose retelling of the Holy Grail film – his production will not be a musical.

 Cleese first revealed his plans for the stage show in November 2019, and writing on Twitter last night, he confirmed: ‘Today I finished the first draft of the script for the stage version of Life Of Brian.

‘Not a musical, as songs slow the pace down too much. Depending on Covid, we might be able to do it in the second half of next year.

‘No Pythons in the cast. We've had enough die already.’

Talk of a stage version of the 1979 comedy – which often tops lists of the funniest movies of all-time – first emerged in 2014, following the success of Spamalot, which took £136 million from its initial Broadway run alone.

And Terry Gilliam has previously spoken about how the film has retained its relevance more than four decades on.

‘It is so applicable to our world now,’ he has said. ‘There’s fundamentalism, there’s anti-Semitism – we deal with that when Brian finds out his father’s a centurion – and then there’s Stan who wants to be a woman.

'Our headlines are about this stuff every day. The only difference now is people have lost a lot of their sense of humour that they had back when we made the film.’

The film was not entirely uncontroversial at the time of its release, given that it tells the story of Brian Cohen (played by Graham Chapman), a young Jewish-Roman man who is mistaken for the Messiah.

It faced accusations of blasphemy and protests from some religious groups. Several local authorities banned it, as did Ireland and Norway,

Cleese has also spoken about possible plans to make a West End musical out of Fawlty Towers, too.

Today I finished the first draft of the script for the stage version of Life of Brian

Not a musical, as songs slow the pace down too much

Depending on Covid, we might be able to do it in the second half of next year

No Pythons in the cast. We've had enough die already

— John Cleese (@JohnCleese) July 4, 2021

Published: 5 Jul 2021