29th April to 3rd May 2025 at Stantonbury Theatre, Milton Keynes
Welcome to Whitbury New Town Leisure Centre, the empire of Gordon Brittas, a man with a unique management style and a dream!
He has a receptionist who keeps her baby in a drawer, a wife on the verge of a nervous breakdown, a maintenance man who is suffering from a bizarre range of rare diseases, a team who can’t stand him and numerous enemies who want to see him sacked!
In what is just a typical week for the centre, the long-suffering staff and customers face an investigation into a theft, the visit of a local area inspector, gross insubordination from a deputy manager and a safety drill that ends in chaos, this adaptation seamlessly blended classic plots from the original TV series into one extremely funny storyline.
Based on the popular BBC TV series by Richard Fegen and Andrew Norriss (starring actor Chris Barrie), we were excited to put on this premiere of a brand new stage adaptation, written by MKTOC’s own Steve Clark and Emma Dell, which had been developed with the full collaboration and support of the original writers, and brought to life the characters from the fondly-remembered TV show in an hilarious two-act play.
The original show has been hailed as “the Fawlty Towers of the 1990s” due to its “fast-paced, outrageous comedy full of inventive gags” and MK’s premier comedy theatre group plan to do it justice! Read more about the original 1990s BBC TV series here.
Raffle sales, donation for programmes and our own donation of the equivalent performance rights (kindly waived by the original; TV series writers) raised £1,200 for the charity, Prostate Cancer UK.
We had a lot of fun with this project and perhaps we will return to Whitbury New Town again in the future…
Pictures from the original TV series:
Pictures from our dress rehearsal taken by Sue Lafferty Haywood
Show Dates, Times and Ticket Prices
29th April to 3rd May 2025. At the Stantonbury Theatre, Milton Keynes MK14 6BN
Tuesday 29th April 2025. 7.30pm.
Wednesday 30th April 2025. 7.30pm.
Thursday 1st May 2025. 730pm.
Friday 2nd May 2025. 7.30pm.
Saturday 3rd May 2025. 2.30pm.
Saturday 3rd May 2025. 7.30pm.
Cast
We have a great cast line up for the show: a perfect blend of familiar MKTOC faces and lots of new talent!
Gordon Brittas (Manager of the centre) – Robert Simpson
Helen Brittas (Gordon’s wife) – Emma Dell
Leisure centre Staff:
Laura Lancing (Deputy Manager – Dry) – Samantha Sharma
Colin Weatherby (Deputy Manager – Wet) – Gary Martindale
Carole Parkinson (Receptionist) – Jodie Commercial
Gavin Featherly – Stephen Johnson
Tim Whistler – Michael Hutchinson
Linda Perkins – Claire Duff
Julie Porter (Gordon’s secretary) – Julie Davenport
Danny Stephens – Paul Bell
Mandy Thorpe – Sam Mellor
Others:
Dr Grey (Brittas’ GP) – Andy Oxford
Mr Wilmot (Owner and trainer of birds of prey) – Paul Bell
Inspector Kitson – Dave Pibworth
Councillor Dapping – Sue Whyte
Stephanie (Colin’s daughter) – Gaia Cook
Supporting Ensemble (Leisure Centre staff, visitors, casualties, paramedics etc.) – Isabel Broad, Gaia Cook, Tara Pathirana, Ann Shrimpton, John Stevenson-Hoare, Louise Tuson, Cecile Whidbourne and Robert Wilcox
Production Team
Director – Steve Clark
Stage Management – Kate Capp
Stage team – Mac, Beth Evans, Emily Giddins and Greg Wright
Sound – Dave Howard and Peter Lawson
Lighting Design – Dave Greenway
Marketing & Publicity – David Lovesy
Props – Pam Buckle and team
Props support – Louise Capp
Eagle wrangler – Dave Howard
Set – Supported by MK Men in Sheds
Hair and Make up – Emma Dell (One Salon)
Costumes – MKTOC
FOH – Rachel Clark and friends of MKTOC
Script adapted by – Steve Clark and Emma Dell
