IT'S HEADED STRAIGHT TOWARDS US Comes to Park Theatre in September, Starring Rufus Hound and Samuel West

Jonathan Church Theatre Productions and RJG Productions have announced It's Headed Straight Towards Us, a comedy written by stars of The Young Ones, Adrian Edmondson and Nigel Planer. Rachel Kavanaugh directs Rufus Hound (Gary Savage) and Samuel West (Hugh Delavois), with further casting to be announced. The production opens at Park Theatre on 19 September, with previews from 13 September, and runs until 20 October 2023.

Two actors, stuck in a trailer on the side of a volcano, in Iceland. The glacier is melting, the volcano is active. Bitter rivalries emerge between fussy 'bit part' actor Hugh Delavois and fading Hollywood bad boy Gary Savage, going back to their time at college together, as the film they are meant to be working on collapses around them and the trailer they are in begins to slip. An avalanche wipes out the only escape road and the only bridge to safety subsides into the ravine.

Stuck with them is 21-year-old Leela, the runner on the film, and supposed seismology expert. As their arguments and point-scoring become increasingly fractious, it is down to Leela to contain their petty squabbles and prepare them for the possibility that they may not get out of this alive.

Acclaimed theatre director Rachel Kavanaugh directs multi-award-winning actors, Rufus Hound and Samuel West in this quirky, surprisingly tender, laugh out loud comedy.

It's Headed Straight Towards Us is written by British actor-comedians Adrian Edmondson and Nigel Planer, who rose to fame in TV comedies The Comic Strip Presents, and the BAFTA award-winning cult classic The Young Ones.

Rufus Hound said today, "Nigel and Ade have written something of rare brilliance. Poetic, comedic and human in equal measure and a keen observation of the fragility of the male ego; of actors especially. (Please note in all publications of this statement, that I come ahead of Samuel in the billing). I am more excited than I have been about anything in ages. I think this may well be magnificent."

Samuel West also commented, "Just what the world needs: another examination of the irrelevance of the white male middle-aged actor. I've had to do a LOT of research. This one's very funny though, and true, and touching. Two dinosaurs like Rufus and me should be able to do Ade and Nigel's beautiful script justice. And if not, we'll just blame the millennials."

Adrian Edmondson writer. Adrian accidentally became a comedian in the mid 70's when he and his friend Rik Mayall performed in pubs in an effort get equity cards. They became a double act called '20th Century Coyote' performing at the Comedy Store and the Comic Strip clubs before going on to make the TV series The Young Ones, The Comic Strip Presents..., Filthy, Rich & Catflap, Saturday Live and Bottom. The latter of which spawned five national tours. Simultaneously an acting career saw Adrian take leading roles in two Les Blair films Honest Decent & True and Newshounds; as well as If You See God, Tell Him; Jonathan Creek a three-year stint in Holby City, six months in Eastenders. More recently he has appeared in the dramas War & Peace; Star Wars: The Last Jedi; A Spy Among Friends, and Rain Dogs. In the theatre he has appeared as Brad in The Rocky Horror Show, as Estragon in Waiting for Godot, as William in Bits of Me are Falling Apart (Soho Theatre); and as Malvolio in Twelfth Night and Scrooge in A Christmas Carol for the RSC. As a musician he created the spoof heavy metal band Bad News; the folk/punk band Bad Shepherds; the more comedic Idiot Bastard Band; and has been a regular guest with The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band. He has also performed in Hyde Park with The Who. He has written numerous TV comedies, most notably Bad News Tour; The Dangerous Brothers; Bottom and Teenage Kicks. He wrote a novel The Gobbler in the late 90s, and more recently two books for children Tilly & the Time Machine and Junkyard Jack & the Horse That Talked. A reality TV addict, Adrian has appeared in Comic Relief Does Fame Academy (3rd); Hell's Kitchen (2nd) and Celebrity Masterchef (Winner!). He also presented 36 episodes of The Dales and 50 of the travelogue Ade in Britain.

Nigel Planer writer. He was an original member of the Comedy Store and Comic Strip groups at the centre of the so-called 'Alternative Comedy' movement in the 1980s and one of the stars of the TV series The Young Ones, and The Comic Strip Presents. Since then, he has enjoyed a successful career as an actor in television, theatre, film and radio. He has played leading roles in the original productions of Evita, Chicago, We Will Rock You, Wicked, Hairspray, Feelgood and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. He won a BRIT award in 1984 and has been nominated for Olivier, TMA, What's on Stage, and BAFTA awards. With Christopher Douglas, he created the actor character 'Nicholas Craig', who featured in TV and radio series, a spoof autobiography and one man show.

Writer; His first play, On the Ceiling, was produced in Birmingham and in London's West End, his second; Death of Long Pig premiered at the Finborough in London. The Game of Love and Chai, a re-imagining of Marivaux's farce, opened at the Tara Arts theatre, London, followed by a National tour. All Above Board, toured in 2021 with the Northern Theatre of Comedy. He has written novels, radio plays, and TV scripts as well as writing and voicing over one hundred episodes of The Magic Roundabout for Channel 4. This year sees the release of his latest novel, Jeremiah Bourne in Time (Unbound) - a strange and funny take on time-travel, and a collection of poetry, Making Other Plans. (Flapjack Press).

Rufus Hound plays Gary Savage. He is an award winning actor who has worked across film, television, audio, games and theatre. Film including: Lore (release tbc), The Wedding Video, Big Fat Gypsy Gangster. Television including: Queens of Mystery (AcornTV), Trollied (SkyTV), Doctor Who (BBC), Cucumber (Channel 4), Zapped (Dave), Hounded (CBBC). Audio including: Ronja the Robber's Daughter (Studio Ghibli), Sadie Sparks (Disney), Waffle the Wonderdog (Cbeebies) and The Monk across The Doctor Who Audio Universe (Big Finish). Theatre includes: The Boy in the Dress, The Provoked Wife, Don Quixote (RSC), The Wind in the Willows (The London Palladium), One Man, Two Guv'nors (National Theatre on tour and West End). He is also the host of BBC Radio 4's Sony Award winning My Teenage Diary.

Samuel West plays Hugh Delavois. He has played Hamlet and Richard II for the Royal Shakespeare Company, Valentine in the first production of Tom Stoppard's Arcadia at The National Theatre, Jeffrey Skilling in Enron in the West End and the voice of Pongo in Disney's 101 Dalmations II. TV includes Siegfried Farnon in the new All Creatures Great and Small, Slow Horses, The Crown, Small Axe, W1A, The Hollow Crown II, Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, Cambridge Spies and four series of Mr Selfridge. Films include Darkest Hour, The Gentlemen, On Chesil Beach, Suffragette, Van Helsing, Notting Hill, Zeffirelli's Jane Eyre and Hyde Park on Hudson. He was nominated for a BAFTA for Howards End. As a reciter, he has appeared with orchestras all over the world; in 2002 he was soloist in Walton's Henry V at the Last Night of the Proms. Samuel has toured the West Bank three times with the Choir of London and directed The Magic Flute for the Palestine Mozart Festival. From 2005 to 2007 he was the artistic director of Sheffield Theatres, where he revived The Romans in Britain. Samuel West is an Associate Artist of the RSC and a trustee of the Campaign for the Arts.

Rachel Kavanaugh directs. Theatre credits include: Great British Bake Off the Musical (Cheltenham Theatre and West End), The Witches of Eastwick (Cirkus Theatre in Stockholm and Cameron Mackintosh), The Wind in the Willows (Palladium and UK Tour); Rough Crossing (UK Tour); for Chichester Festival Theatre: Shadowlands, Half a Sixpence (also Noel Coward Theatre), The Winslow Boy (and UK Tour), Single Spies (and UK Tour), An Ideal Husband, The Way of the World, Love Story (transferred to Duchess Theatre and Walnut St Theatre, Philadelphia and received an Olivier Award Nomination for Best New Musical) The Music Man, and A Small Family Business; for the RSC: A Christmas Carol, The Merry Wives of Windsor and Alice in Wonderland; for Regent's Park Open Air Theatre: Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (Olivier Award Nomination for Best Musical Revival), The Sound of Music (Olivier nomination for Best Musical Revival and Winner WhatsOnStage Award for Best Musical Revival); The Taming of the Shrew, Cymbeline, As You Like It, Much Ado About Nothing, Twelfth Night, Love's Labours Lost, A Midsummer Night's Dream; Hope Place at the Liverpool Everyman; The Rivals and Arcadia at the Bristol Old Vic; Oklahoma! (UK Tour); Oklahoma! for the BBC Proms with The John Wilson Orchestra. As Artistic Director of the Birmingham Repertory Theatre productions included Arthur and George, Notes to Future Self, His Dark Materials, The Cherry Orchard, Peter Pan - a Musical Adventure, Uncle Vanya, The Madness of King George III and Arcadia.

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