Dumb Show is a three-character play written by Joe Penhall. [1] First published in 2004, the play centers around the story of an out-of-control former TV comic named Barry. [2]
Dumb Show first premiered at the Royal Court Theatre in London on September 4, 2004, directed by Terry Johnson. [3] [4] Dumb Show later made its American debut at the South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa, California in September 2005. [5] In 2011, Dumb Show was performed at Keswick's Theatre by the Lake. [6]
Dumb Show commences with a scene where a TV personality named Barry meets with private bankers, John and Jane. The bankers attempt to flatter Barry and win him over with vintage champagne. To craft an edgy after-dinner speech, John and Jane coax Barry into divulging certain intimate details of his personal life, but Barry has other plans. In reality, he intends to exploit John and Jane's eagerness to obtain what he desires, rather than reveal any personal information.
The tension mounts and the stakes rise as the three characters take turns out-witting one another and rewriting reality according to their agendas. In each turn, Dumb Show confronts questions of ethics, exploitation, and personal morality.
Keswick is a market town and civil parish in the Cumberland unitary authority area of Cumbria, England. Historically, until 1974, it was part of the county of Cumberland. It lies within the Lake District National Park, Keswick is just north of Derwentwater and is four miles from Bassenthwaite Lake. The parish had a population of 5,243 at the 2011 census.
Henry Franklin Winkler is an American actor, comedian, author, producer, and director. Widely known as Arthur "Fonzie" Fonzarelli on the American television series Happy Days, Winkler has distinguished himself as a character actor for roles on stage and screen. His many accolades include three Emmy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, and two Critics Choice Awards.
Jeffrey Warren Daniels is an American actor. He is known for his work on stage and screen playing diverse characters switching between comedy and drama. He is the recipient of several accolades, including two Primetime Emmy Awards, in addition to nominations for three Tony Awards, five Screen Actors Guild Awards, and five Golden Globe Awards.
Sarah Doon Mackichan (; is a British actress, comedian and writer. She co-created, wrote and performed in the double-Emmy-award-winning Smack the Pony. She frequently collaborates with Armando Iannucci and Steve Coogan, having played multiple characters in The Day Today, Brass Eye and Alan Partridge, and has also appeared in Toast of London and Two Doors Down. Mackichan was nominated for Best Female Comedy Performance at the 2014 British Academy Television Awards for her performance in Plebs and won critical praise for her performance alongside John Malkovich in Bitter Wheat in 2019.
The San Jose Repertory Theatre was the first resident professional theatre company in San Jose, California. It was founded in 1980 by James P. Reber. In 2008, after the demise of the American Musical Theatre of San Jose, the San Jose Rep became the largest non-profit, professional theatre company in the South Bay with an annual operating budget of $5 million. In 2006, it was saved from impending insolvency by a $2 million bailout loan from the city of San Jose; this was later restructured into a long-term loan similar to a mortgage.
The Royal Court Theatre, at different times known as the Court Theatre, the New Chelsea Theatre, and the Belgravia Theatre, is a non-commercial West End theatre in Sloane Square, London, England. In 1956 it was acquired by and remains the home of the English Stage Company, which is known for its contributions to contemporary theatre and won the Europe Prize Theatrical Realities in 1999.
The Old Rep is the United Kingdom's first ever purpose-built repertory theatre, constructed in 1913, located on Station Street in Birmingham, England. The theatre was a permanent home for Barry Jackson's Birmingham Repertory Company, formed in 1911 from his amateur theatre group, The Pilgrim Players, founded in 1907. Jackson funded the construction of the theatre and established his professional company there.
Alan Armstrong, known professionally as Alun Armstrong, is an English character actor. He grew up in County Durham in North East England, and first became interested in acting through Shakespeare productions at his grammar school. Since his career began in the early 1970s, he has played, in his words, "the full spectrum of characters from the grotesque to musicals... I always play very colourful characters, often a bit crazy, despotic, psychotic".
Joe Scott Penhall is an English-Australian playwright and screenwriter, best known for his award-winning stage play Blue/Orange, the award-winning West End musical Sunny Afternoon and creating the Netflix original series Mindhunter.
Blue/Orange is a play written by English dramatist, Joe Penhall. The play is a sardonically comic piece which touches on race, mental illness and 21st-century British life.
Douglas William Hodge is an English actor, director, and musician who has had an extensive career in theatre, as well as television and film where he has appeared in Robin Hood (2010), Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return and Diana (2013), Penny Dreadful (2016), Catastrophe (2018), Joker and Lost in Space (2019), and The Great (2020–2023).
Roger Michell was a South African-born British theatre, television and film director. He was best known for directing films such as Notting Hill and Venus, as well as the 1995 made-for-television film Persuasion.
Joe Armstrong is an English actor. His television roles include Allan A Dale in three series of Robin Hood, Hotspur in Henry IV, Part I, Ashley Cowgill in Happy Valley and Bairstow in The Village. On stage, he played the lead role in D. C. Moore's The Empire and appeared in the 2011 revival of Flare Path. He co-starred with Maxine Peake in Miss Julie at the Royal Exchange and with Louise Brealey in a touring production of Constellations.
Benjamin Noah Silverman is an American media executive. He is the co-CEO and chairman of the entertainment production company Propagate.
David Edgar is a British playwright and writer who has had more than sixty of his plays published and performed on stage, radio and television around the world, making him one of the most prolific dramatists of the post-1960s generation in Great Britain. He was resident playwright at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre in 1974–5 and has been a board member there since 1985. Awarded a Fellow in Creative Writing at Leeds Polytechnic, he was made a Bicentennial Arts Fellow (US) (1978–79).
Terry Johnson is a British dramatist and director working for stage, television and film. Educated at Birmingham University, he worked as an actor from 1971 to 1975, and has been active as a playwright since the early 1980s.
The Rose Theatre Kingston is a theatre on Kingston High Street in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames in London, England. The theatre seats 822 around a wide, thrust stage.
James Olatokunbo Akingbola is a Nigerian-British television, theatre and film actor. He rose to fame playing PC Neil Parker in Holby Blue, and subsequently Antoine Malick in its parent series Holby City. He has subsequently appeared as Koji in the first series of the sitcom Kate & Koji, Valentine Easmon in In the Long Run, and Geoffrey Thompson in Bel-Air.
Birmingham Repertory Theatre, commonly called Birmingham Rep or just The Rep, is a producing theatre based on Centenary Square in Birmingham, England. Founded by Billie Lester, it is the longest-established of Britain's building-based theatre companies and one of its most consistently innovative.
Matthew Xia is a British theatre director, DJ, composer, broadcaster and journalist.