All Press Enquiries: Idil Sukan
idil@drawhq.com
07545170895

The Penny Dreadfuls, the brand new sketch show
Pleasance One, Pleasance Courtyard
4-30th August (not 17th), 6pm, prices vary

Press Release 2010: Right Click to download press release (104KB)

Writers & Performers: Humphrey Ker, Thom Tuck & David Reed
Directors: David Sant & Tim Hibberd
Technical Director: Neil Hobbs

Production & Press, Design: Idil Sukan for Draw HQ
Associate Producer: Steve Greer for Draw HQ
Assistant Producer: Venice Van Someren for Draw HQ

The Penny Dreadfuls are the three comedians & writers: Humphrey Ker, David Reed and Thom Tuck. They write and perform sketch & narrative comedy for the stage & radio. They are currently working on their new sketch show, their first sketch show since 2007.

They are best known for various iterations of their flagship show, Aeneas Faversham, a Victorian sketch comedy show, including a trilogy of sketch & narrative shows that were performed at the Edinburgh Festivals 2006, 07 & 08 and across the UK, as well as two 4-part series of the radio show The Brothers Faversham, first broadcast on BBC7 & Radio 4 in 2008 and regularly repeated on iPlayer & on the air throughout 2009 & 2010. Their Afternoon Play for Radio 4, Guy Fawkes, starring Kevin Eldon in the title role, was broadcast on Guy Fawkes Day in 2009.

________________________________________________

Previous show information

“Aeneas Faversham Forever”, 2008

They are also working on their brand new live show with the working title “Aeneas Faversham Forever” which they will debut at the Edinburgh Festival in August 2008. While their last two live shows have been straightforward sketch-blackout-sketch formats, their third promises to be in a brand new format uncommon in the sketch circuit but which builds on the narrative style they honed while working on their radio show. Click here for their live dates where you can go and see the work in progress around the UK. Official previews will begin in June 2008 at the Greenwich Theatre at the London Fringe.

Before August you can also catch the Dreadfuls live at the Leicester, Glasgow, Brighton Fringe & Newham comedy festivals.

________________________________________________

“The Brothers Faversham” on BBC Radio 7

The Penny Dreadfuls’ debut four-part radio “The Brothers Faversham” series was broadcast on BBC 7 through January-Feburary 2008, each of the four episodes following the life of a son from the house of Faversham.

Click here for an exclusive interview with BBC7 in the lead up to the series.

The Dreadfuls were immediately commissioned for a second series which they will record live at the BBC Radio Theatre on the 13th & 17th of July, to be broadcast in October 2008.

“Aeneas Faversham Returns”, 2007

In August 2007, they followed it with their second Edinburgh Festival run with their brand new show “Aeneas Faversham Returns” which more than lived up to all expectations, garnering another roster of five-star reviews from the press, guest appearances all over comedy nights around Edinburgh and selling every single ticket over the 26-night run in a hundred-seater venue, making it the biggest selling sketch show at the Festival.

________________________________________________

“Aeneas Faversham”, 2006

The Penny Dreadfuls formed in Edinburgh and toured mainly around Scotland in 2006 immediately to sell out crowds, topping it off with a hugely successful run of their flagship show “Aeneas Faversham” at the Edinburgh Festival to massive critical acclaim, with five star reviews pouring in. They followed it up with appearing on BBC3 and a whole heap of bigger live performances followed, a move to London, including guesting at the BBC Children in Need Comedy night at the Shepherds Bush Empire. Gathering up a legion of fans and news of a completely different and amazing sketch comedy show spreading virally, the Penny Dreadfuls were now performing to sell out crowds in London, and became an increasingly regular fixture on the London circuit, as well as touring round the festival circuit in Glasgow, Leicester, Brighton and Latitude.

________________________________________________

Individual Projects

Now developing multiple television and radio projects the three Dreadfuls are also independently appearing in different comedy shows on Channel 4, BBC3, BBC4 and Radio 4, appearing alongside David Walliams, Mark Gattis and none other than Brian Blessed. Click here for their current individual projects.
________________________________________________

Click here for more information on the production team.

________________________________________________

Previous Press Releases

Right click to download:
1) Aeneas Faversham Forever at the Edinburgh Festival, 7.10pm, 31 July – 25 Aug, Pleasance Courtyard (105kb, pdf)
2) Aeneas Faversham Forever Greenwich Theatre Preview, 8.30pm, 26 & 27 June (105kb, pdf)

Underbelly, Edinburgh, Fringe Festival, August 2007 Press Release (pdf)

Underbelly, Edinburgh, Fringe Festival, August 2006 Press Release (pdf)