This is the life

Spring line-up for the John Godber Company - a new Teechers rewrite, new play This is The Life, and Godber's biggest recent hit, about Northern Soul: Do I Love You?

A new comedy from popular master John Godber features in the spring season of the titular John Godber Company.

This is the Life premieres at the East Riding Theatre in Beverley in June and is the first of his almost 60 plays to have the theatre as its subject.

Dave and Sapphire have happily worked backstage at the Old Forge theatre for years, never interested in appearing in front of an audience.

But when they learn the venue is to close, they are shocked and angry: despite dwindling audience numbers, unfunny stand-ups and a chaotic staff, they love the damp and crumbling place.

The pair offer to stage their own dramatic adventure, full of the characters they've met and scenes they've witnessed. Dave and Sapphire might have preferred to work behind the scenes, but now they have chosen to stand centre stage and are beginning to think, maybe, that this is the life! 

Might their show bring back the punters - or be a further reason to turn the Old Forge into luxury flats?

Godber explores hope, ghosts and the power of performance, as seen through the eyes of a cynical backstage duo.

The new play is a highlight of a spring season that includes Godber's most recent hit, 2023's Do I Love You? - a play about Northern Soul music and the people who still carry its torch. In March - following three years of sold-out tours across the UK and beyond - the show will finally play in London and will also travel across the Irish sea to Dublin. 

Last but not least in the season will be another rewrite of his classic comedy Teechers. Godber’s hilarious comedy has been reset for our post-Covid times but continues to bristle with teenage swagger and outlandish imagination as Salty, Gail and Hobby use their BTEC performing arts exam to showcase their work.

Teechers is the one item in the season that will tour extensively, with dates already set for Bridlington, Scarborough, Doncaster, Blackpool, Mold, Durham, WIndermere, Barnsley, Hull, Bolton, Bradford, and Harrogate (as well as venues outside our region). See the full list here

More about the season here