Steptoe and Son

From the outset in 1962 "Steptoe and Son" broke the mould of British comedy by introducing a note of gritty realism, its main characters very much working class, down-at-heel rag and bone men scraping a living by spotting gems among other people's junk. Father Albert Steptoe as his son Harold often reminded him - was a "dirty old man", set in his ways whilst his 40 year old son, Harold was filled with social aspirations and he was always trying to attract a posh "bird"(this was the early seventies!) with his literary knowledge, love of classical music or amateur dramatic skills, but his father soon put the kybosh on the whole affair.

The Players used three episodes from the 1972 series and they are among the best remembered. - "Oh, What A Beautiful Mourning", "Divided We Stand" and "A Star Is Born",

Oh, What A Beautiful Mourning - Albert's eldest brother dies and the entire dreadful Steptoe family are re-united for the funeral and all of them are interested in the will in more ways than one. This episode is a true ensemble piece with many family roles, most being quite small but very important when it comes to the time to read the will.

Divided We Stand - an argument between father and son culminates in Harold deciding to buil a "Berlin" wall through the middle if the house to separate himself from his father, eg each of them having their own bottle of milk etc. As can be imagined this was a large set change within the production and was done in the interval.

A Star Is Born - Harold is  a member of the local amateur dramatic society. One of the actors backs out and his place is taken by Albert, who naturally scores a resounding success on opening night. There are some lovely cameo roles in this episode, especially Rupert (Stuart Roxburgh) who typifies the Amdram director!  At the end of the episode, Harold decides that he will always be a rag and bone man.

Of course congratulations must go to Barrie Judd as Albert Steptoe and Neil Mather as Harold Steptoe.  However they learned all those lines? Their voices, accents, intonations and mannerisms made you think that it was Wilfred Brambell and Harry H. Corbett on the stage!

Well done to Tracey Briggs on her direction and stage management.  The set worked really well and as usual the properties and costumes were first class - never seen so much "junk" on a stage - the stage crew worked really hard.

Congratulations to all concerned.  Keep up the good work!

I am pleased you are sticking with comedy for your next three productions "When we are married", "It Runs in the Family", and "Will You Still Love Me in the Morning?"

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