Cult spoof by literary lunatics returns

Hold onto your bonnets, LipService are celebrating 21 years of sublime silliness with their cult Bronte spoof Withering Looks. 

When Maggie Fox and Sue Ryding realised that 2006 was also the 150th anniversary of the death of Charlotte Bronte, they could hardly turn down the chance to dust off their crinolines, wear flattering bonnets and sit at rained-lashed windows in a pale and decorative manner in a reprise of one of their best-loved shows.

Now in 2011, this cult classic returns to the stage following a series of hit touring shows including Desperate To Be Doris (featuring a singing flower chorus), Tony and Twizzle - The Glory Years and the Bond pastiche, Jane Bond.

Withering Looks is an up close and personal look behind the forbidding exterior of Haworth Parsonage, where the three Bronte sisters – well, two actually, Anne’s just popped out for a cup of sugar – lived and worked.

But to compensate, there are more ravaged heaths, tormented souls, mysterious neighbours, and maniacal laughter from the attic. Peopled with many familiar characters, and some, quite frankly that LipService have made up, this is a "potted potty classic to savour".

Maggie Fox and Sue Ryding have been writing and performing together since 1985, touring nationally and internationally. They have written 14 original comedies for the stage, and have twice won the Critics’ Award for Comedy at the Edinburgh Festival.

Withering Looks is directed by Noreen Kershaw, the original Shirley Valentine. She has also directed Coronation St, Emmerdale and Heartbeat.

 Catch it at the Unity next Friday and Saturday, October 21 & 22. http://www.youtube.com/user/LipServicetheatre#p/a/f/0/oEEtsbgT0Mo