Les Dennis is to appear in the London premiere of Alan Ayckbourn’s comedy about the fame game, Drowning On Dry Land, which plays at the Jermyn Street theatre from 22 February.
Drowning On Dry Land, which premiered in Scarborough in 2004, is a sharp and timely comedy about the cult of celebrity. It centres on Charlie Conrad, an injured sportsman and useless quiz contestant, who becomes famous just for being a failure.
Dennis, who plays Charlie’s agent Jason, is best known for his 15-year stint as the presenter of gameshow Family Fortunes, which followed appearances in comedy shows including Russ Abbot’s Madhouse and The Laughter Show. On stage his work has included Chicago, Me And My Girl, High School Musical 2, Hairspray and Marlon Brando’s Corset, as well as Eurovision parody Eurobeat, which played in the West End in 2008.
One of the UK’s most prolific playwrights, Ayckbourn has written more than 70 plays, many of which have been revived in London recently, including The Norman Conquests, Absurd Person Singular, Woman In Mind, Bedroom Farce and the current National Theatre production of Season’s Greetings.
Drowning On Dry Land plays at the Jermyn Street theatre following Less Than Kind, a rediscovered play by Terence Rattigan.
CB