City show that sold out twice at Edinburgh Fringe is taking final bow at Epstein for 10th anniversary

A cult city show that sold out twice at Edinburgh Fringe is taking a final curtain call in Liverpool to mark its 10^th anniversary.

It’s the last time audiences will be able to see Naughty Corner Productions’ Not The Horse after creator Mike Dickinson revealed he was taking it out of the stables for one final raucous ride.

It will be performed at The Epstein Theatre on Friday and Saturday, October 17-18 – and the first night is already a near sell-out.

Mike, founder of Naughty Corner and head of acting (first year) at LMA said:

“This is the last time anyone will be able to see Not The Horse as it makes its last ride out 10 years after it was first performed,”

“It’s one of our most outrageous comedies.  It’s got such a ridiculous storyline but it’s really good fun,” he adds.

“There are no hidden messages, and we’re not trying to make a statement; Not The Horse is simply a really fun, entertaining night out.”

Mike wrote Not The Horse in 2015 and it was Naughty Corner’s second ever production.

“The first show we did which won The Sunday Times’ National Drama Award was called The Bastard Queen, and that was quite a serious show,” explains Mike, “and after that I thought I needed to make something that was a bit more fun, and a bit of escapism (something we need more than ever right now).

“I wanted to write about a heist and I remember asking my friend as a joke what no-one would ever think of stealing – and he said a horse sperm bank!

“I laughed – and then suddenly went ‘oh my God’ and wrote the play in about two or three days.

“And it went on this wild run that none of us could ever have expected, with sell-out shows in Edinburgh, Brighton, London and Manchester. It sold out for a week the first time we took it to Edinburgh – and for a whole month the second time!”

Not The Horse tells the story of Tony, a 20-year-old Scouser, who lands himself deep in muck after losing a high-stakes horse-racing bet to a gang of ruthless criminals from London.

With only four days to find £250,000, he and his mates are catapulted into a bizarre and blundering world full of failed plans, accidental robberies … and a ridiculous amount of horse semen.

“Ten years seems a good time to do it again, one last time,” Mike goes on.

“It’s always been so well received because the cast have so much fun that it can’t help but be infectious.

“I often watch it and think I didn’t write that line but the cast, while always being professional, try to catch each other off guard, and we encourage that. It’s playful.

“They have made these characters that are larger than life so one who originally had only two lines now has the most lines in it. It’s just evolved.”

Mike says: “I used to watch Peter Sellers’ films and things like The Naked Gun with my grandad because they made us laugh, and Not The Horse is a bit like those. I wrote it for him although he never got to see it.

“It’s silly comedy and slapstick to the max.”

Produced by Trisha Duffy, Not The Horse sees some of the original cast coming out of retirement and other careers to perform in it once more ‘because they love it so much’ along with new actors, and Mike is delighted that it will be on stage at the newly re-opened Epstein Theatre.

“It will be a really great moment to come back and perform at the Epstein, and it’s great to see it back.

“We have done quite a few shows there in the past and there was a time we thought we’d never be doing shows there again,” adds Mike, whose Naughty Corner team has headlined Glastonbury’s Outside Circus Stage for the last three years in a row with Raves R Us. 

“It’s brilliant to see the Epstein return and for us to put our mark on the stage again. It’s an amazing, amazing theatre.

“Not The Horse is pure, unapologetic escapism which sometimes people turn their noses up at. But there’s room for all kinds of art, and we promise good fun, a great night out, and the chance to see one of the best casts you’ve ever seen.

“People will have an absolute ball.”

Find more information and tickets on the Epstein Theatre website.

Find more theatre shows across Liverpool here.

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