Theatre South East

Terry Jones directs the world premiere of play about the life of Marty Feldman

Monty Python legend Terry Jones is to direct the world premiere of Jeepers Creepers, a play about comedy star Marty Feldman and his ambitious wife, Lauretta.

Jeepers Creepers, written by Marty’s best-selling biographer Robert Ross, and starring David Boyle (Being Sellers, The Fool Who Dared to Dream) and Rebecca Vaughan (Austen’s Women, I, Elizabeth), will premiere in a four-week season in the Lounge at Leicester Square Theatre from Monday 18 January – Saturday 20 February.

Having written some of the nation’s favourite comedy in The Army Game and Round the Horne, Marty Feldman suddenly finds himself a star in his own right, with sketch show success for both the BBC and commercial TV. Then Hollywood comes a’knocking with the role of Igor (pronounced Eye~Gor!) in the Mel Brooks film Young 

Frankenstein. But while his wife Lauretta takes to the glamorous lifestyle with alacrity, can Marty come to terms with the burden of the fame he has always craved?  Excess, depression, and the inevitable decline follow. Surely laughter, and the love of a strong woman can conquer all, although the eternal conflict of the clown refuses to fade. Is he laughed with, or laughed at?

Jeepers Creepers charts one of the most powerful and complex partnerships in comedy, through the unique gaze of one of the greatest: Marty Feldman.

Terry Jones has a personal connection to the play’s subject – he wrote sketches for and appeared in It’s Marty with Marty Feldman in the late 1960s. He said: “When I joined the writing team for The Frost Report, the first person to say ‘Hello’ and make me feel welcome was Marty Feldman. He was one of those very kind and very funny people who helped all the Pythons along the way. It’s lovely to be able to say a belated ‘Thank you’ by bringing him back to eye-popping life – sort of! – on the London stage.”

Produced by Martin Witts for Leicester Square Theatre.