Waiting for God delighted TV audiences across five prime time BBC series in the 1990s. The all-new stage version is penned by the sitcom’s creator Michael Aitkens and ends its UK tour at The Lowry from Monday 3rd until Saturday 8th July.
Facing the challenges that come with growing old disgracefully in the era of the silver surfer. Battle-axe extraordinaire Diana Trent conspires with new resident Tom Ballard to give the conniving manager his comeuppance with unexpectedly heart-warming results at Bayview Retirement Home.
When asked if he thinks social attitudes have changed since writing Waiting for God for TV Micheal Aitkens said;
“Yes, I think our views on age have changed quite dramatically in the 27 years since the series was first on-screen, When I was growing up, my parents’ generation retired at 65, put their feet up for five years and then died. But now we just keep rocking on. I have this theory that a lot of us have linked our lives to Mick Jagger’s. So long as Mick can keep getting out there, so long as Keith doesn’t fold up, we’re okay. It’s the Jagger Syndrome: if Mick goes, a lot of us will follow the next week.
“The play is set in 2017 not the Nineties, Diana uses a laptop and there are smartphones but I think the main change is in how the audience perceives the characters. Back then, the idea that older people should think and behave like Diana and Tom may have seemed outrageous. Now they’re more of the norm and hopefully the audience will identify with that.”
Waiting for God
Mon 3 – Sat 8 July
Tickets start at £28.50
The Lowry, Pier 8, The Quays, Salford M50 3AZ
0843 208 6000
https://www.thelowry.com/
