DIRTY DUSTING

A B O U T

A hilarious comedy about three pensioner cleaners who start a telephone sex line… and that’s when the fun really begins.

A trio of 70-something hard-working cleaners are facing the axe. They might be past their best, beyond their sell-by date and over the hill but they certainly won’t take threats of redundancy lying down.These game ‘girls’ set up a phone sex service, known as “The Telephone Belles”, and that’s when the fun really begins.

Their bosses don’t know about it, their families would never guess and their very willing customers are none the wiser.

They’re the only chat-line girls with dusters, attitude and their very own bus passes! Don’t miss the original old-timers who become good-time girls in this year’s must-see comedy – Dirty Dusting. Pure Theatrical Viagra? ……it probably is – for those who just might need the real thing!

T H E   B A C K G R O U N D

The play was written by two Newcastle Upon Tyne journalists Ed Waugh and Trevor Wood, it played first at the Customs House in South Shields and it quickly became the biggest and most popular play to come out of Newcastle in many years.

After the initial run at South Shields former Newcastle Theatre Royal Chief Executive Peter Sarah organised a 10-minute trial of Dirty Dusting in front of an intimate group of people at his venue. The audience was one of the toughest in the business – a group of the theatre’s own cleaning staff. Hearing their guffaws, he booked the show for a week. Sell-out performances followed and a new theatrical phenomenon was born.

Audiences just took to their hearts the hilarious tale of Olive, Elsie and Gladys – the cleaners who get down-right dirty.

Over 25,000 people in the North East of England have seen Dirty Dusting since its premiere at the Customs House in February 2003. Only Shania Twain and Busted attracted more people to a show on Tyneside in the same 12 month period.

Dirty Dusting enjoyed three sell-out runs at the Customs House and then twice sold out the Theatre Royal, Newcastle and then enjoyed a further run at the city’s Tyne Theatre and Opera House.

The show opened at the King’s Theatre, Glasgow on 14th June 2005 with a huge advance – having been on-sale for only seven weeks. It was immediately re-booked at the theatre for November 2005 where it sold out and in the same run also played at the King’s Theatre, Edinburgh to huge audiences.

In 2006 the show came to Ireland and played sell-out runs in Limerick and Waterford along with a 4 week sell-out season at the Gaiety Theatre in Dublin, the show has played 3 futher Irish seasons and tours.

T O U R   D A T E S