Following a critically acclaimed and award nominated Birmingham Rep premiere, Park Theatre run and tour, James Seabright announces the West End transfer of Ian Hallard’s new comedy The Way Old Friends Do, for a strictly limited four-week season at The Criterion Theatre from 17 August.
In 1988, two school friends tentatively come out to one another: one as gay, the other – even more daringly – as an ABBA fan. Nearly thirty years later, a chance meeting sets them on a brand-new path and they decide to form the world’s first ABBA tribute band – in drag! But can their friendship survive the tribulations of a life on the road which includes platform boots, fake beards and a distractingly attractive stranger?
Simultaneously tender and laugh-out loud funny, this heartfelt story will appeal to anyone who understands how it feels to be a fan: of ABBA or of anyone. It marks the first West End appearance in over a decade of Olivier Award winner Sara Crowe, together with her fellow touring company members reprising their roles including playwright Ian Hallard, under the direction of Mark Gatiss, whose production of The Unfriend played a sell-out season at the Criterion Theatre earlier this year.
“After a wonderful four months of bringing laughter and tears to audiences right across the country, I couldn’t be more thrilled that ’The Way Old Friends Do’ is arriving in the West End. I can’t wait for us to entertain even more people with our tale of desire, devotion and Dancing Queens!” – Writer/performer Ian Hallard
The Way Old Friends Do is at The Criterion Theatre Thursday 17 August to Saturday 09 September 2023.
