22 SEPtember – 04 NOVember
I’M SORRY, PRIME MINISTER,
I CAN’T QUITE REMEMBER
Written & directed by Jonathan Lynn
In celebration of the razor-sharp political satire Yes, Minister, the BAFTA Award-winning Jonathan Lynn, one of the original writers of the hit series, has penned a brand-new stage production, I’m Sorry Prime Minister I Can’t Quite Remember.
A “Built by Barn” production, by the Barn Theatre, Cirencester, the final hilarious chapter in the classic Yes, Prime Minister series continues its biting satire on the political classes and provides a fitting farewell to the Hacker years.
Former Prime Minister, Jim Hacker, longs to see out his days from his Grand Master’s Lodge at Hacker College, Oxford. The College Fellowship and students have very different ideas and eviction looms large.
Holed up in his new home at Hacker College, Oxford, Jim finds himself, as ever, in the midst of a set of problems mainly of his own making. Unsure of how to cope, he calls on his old and not so loyal Permanent Secretary Sir Humphrey Appleby. What ensues carries all the hallmark comedy of this classic partnership as well as being a touching portrait of two old sparring partners trying desperately to figure out the modern world and work out what their place is in it. In doing so they discover friendship and empathy as well as learning a few hard lessons about life.
Can Sir Humphrey Appleby, the PM’s former Cabinet Secretary, save the day one last time? Will it be Yes, Prime Minister or I’m Sorry, Prime Minister?
DETAILS
TICKETS
Starting from £45.00
RUNNING TIME
Approx. 2hrs 20mins, with a 20 min interval
SHOW INFO
Director: John Smith
PROGRAMME
Pre order and save 20%, or buy on the night for £5
Creatives
JONATHAN LYNN
WRITER AND DIRECTOR
Jonathan Lynn’s West End theatre debut was as Motel the Tailor in the original London cast of Fiddler on the Roof.
London directing credits include: The Glass Menagerie, working with Tennessee Williams; Songbook (Best Musical, Society of West End Theatres Award and Evening Standard Award); Anna Christie (RSC, Stratford and the Donmar); Joe Orton’s Loot, starring Leonard Rossiter; Pass The Butler by Eric Idle, Shaw’s Arms And The Man, Coward’s Tonight At 8.30, and The Gingerbread Man by David Wood (two seasons at The Old Vic). At the National Theatre, Lynn directed A Little Hotel on the Side by Georges Feydeau, and Three Men on A Horse (Olivier Award, Best Comedy). As Artistic Director of the Cambridge Theatre Company, Lynn directed 19 productions, producing 20 others, 9 of which transferred to the West End.
Film directing: the cult classic Clue (he also wrote the screenplay), Nuns on the Run (also written by Lynn), My Cousin Vinny, The Distinguished Gentleman, Sgt. Bilko, Greedy, Trial And Error, The Whole Nine Yards, The Fighting Temptations and most recently, Wild Target.
For television, Lynn’s writing credits include dozens of episodes of various series, and the multi-award-winning series Yes Minister and Yes, Prime Minister, co-written and created with Antony Jay. Lynn authored The Complete Yes, Minister and The Complete Yes, Prime Minister, which cumulatively sold more than a million copies in hardback and have been translated into numerous languages and are still in print nearly 40 years later. As an actor, he has appeared in various well-loved TV films and series.
He wrote (with Antony Jay) and directed the hit theatrical adaptation Yes, Prime Minister, and directed his more recent play The Patriotic Traitor, at The Park Theatre in London starring Laurence Fox. His recent books, Comedy Rules and Samaritans have both received rave reviews. Lynn received an MA in Law from Cambridge University and describes himself as a recovering lawyer.
LEE NEWBY
SET & COSTUME DESIGNER
Theatre includes:
The Enfield Haunting (Ambassadors Theatre); The Last Five Years (Garrick Theatre/ China Tour); Labour of Love (Noël Coward Theatre); The Life I Lead (Wyndham’s Theatre / UK Tour); Ian McKellen’s Hamlet and The Cherry Orchard (Theatre Royal Windsor); Steve (Seven Dials Playhouse); Wodehouse In Wonderland (UK Tour); Les Misérables (The Mack Theatre, Mountview); My Night with Reg (Turbine Theatre); Killing The Cat (Riverside Studios); Romeo and Juliet, Richard III (Shakespeare’s Rose Theatre, York); Homos, Or Everyone in America (Finborough Theatre); Musik (Leicester Square Theatre); Vienna 1934 – Munich 1938 (Ustinov Studio Theatre, Bath); The View Upstairs (Soho Theatre); The Importance of Being Earnest (Theatr Clwyd); Abigail’s Party (UK Tour); SUS, Mother of Him, Whodunnit [Unrehearsed], Gently Down the Stream (Park Theatre); The Last Five Years, Grand Hotel, Dogfight (Southwark Playhouse); Mythic (Charing Cross Theatre); Lunch, The Bow of Ulysses (Trafalgar Studios); Floyd Collins (Wilton’s Music Hall); A Prayer for Wings, Jerker (King’s Head Theatre); Spin, The Crown – Live!, Cruel Intentions (Edinburgh Festival); The Tempest, Deathwatch, Ignis (Coronet Theatre); First Lady Suite (Mountview); Stay Awake, Jake (The Vault Festival); Violet, Spend, Spend, Spend (Bridewell Theatre).
Upcoming Shows
A CHRISTMAS CAROL
1 December – 4 January
THE LAST FIVE YEARS
20 October – 15 November
HAYWIRE
01 September – 11 October
EDUCATING RITA
19 MAY – 28 JUNE
THE BARN THEATRE
5 Beeches Road
Cirencester
Gloucestershire
GL7 1BN
BOX OFFICE
Tel: 01285 648255
Email: boxoffice@barntheatre.org.uk