The stage adaptation of Spike Milligan’s Adolf Hitler: My Part In His Downfall, is to play at the Hampstead theatre this summer following its world premiere at the Bristol Old Vic.
The production, which runs at the Hampstead theatre from 22 July to 22 August, uses Milligan’s words, along with comedy, jazz, song and dance, to chart his journey through World War II, from the announcement of war to joining the Royal Artillery and his campaigns in North Africa and Italy.
Director Tim Carroll, Co-Artistic Director of The Factory and former Associate Director of Shakespeare’s Globe, has assembled a cast of actor/musicians to tell Milligan’s tale, among them Matt Devereaux, William Findley, Dominic Gerrard, Sholto Morgan and David Morley Hale.
Born in 1918, Milligan was one of Britain’s most loved comedians, achieving success as a writer, musician, poet and playwright, but was arguably best known for his work alongside Peter Sellers, Harry Secombe and Michael Bentine on The Goon Show.
His memoirs have been adapted for the stage by Carroll and Ben Power, who has worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company, Complicité and Shakespeare’s Globe. Power is also the Literary Associate with Rupert Goold’s Headlong Theatre Company, for whom he has created adaptations including Faust and Six Characters In Search Of An Author.
Spike Milligan’s Adolf Hitler: My Part In His Downfall follows another wartime-set production at the Hampstead theatre. Frank McGuinness’s award-winning Observe The Sons Of Ulster Marching Towards The Somme, which follows eight men who volunteer at the beginning of World War I, runs from 18 June to 18 July. Observe The Sons Of Ulster Marching Towards The Somme is preceded by Amongst Friends, April De Angelis’s new social satire, which runs from 21 May to 13 June.
MA