An absurdly funny new play by Ian Hislop and Nick Newman, SPIKE, is coming to Aylesbury Waterside Theatre from Tue 25 – Sat 29 Oct and we have some insider info from the writers!

Your play ‘Spike’ tells the story of the young Spike Milligan. How did the play come about? 

Nick Newman [NN]: There are too many biopics of comedians that tell the ‘tears of a clown’ story. And while you can’t escape Spike’s mental health issues, for us that was something that we saw as powering his comedy.

Did you want to celebrate Spike because you were Goon Show fans? 

NN: I was brought up on it. My father was in the RAF and we were stationed in places where there was no television. All we had to listen to was recordings of The Goon Show.

IH: I’m a lot younger than Nick, so I didn’t hear them first time around. I went back and listened to it and was gobsmacked.  The people in charge at the BBC couldn’t bear it. They had no idea what this group were doing, and they wanted to shut them down, basically. They thought they were noisy and anarchic and up to no good. So for me the challenge with the play was: can we bring all that to life onstage?

Is it part of your ambition with the play to introduce Spike’s work to new audiences? 

 IH: Yes, I think that’s fair. There’s nothing quite as much fun as hearing a joke delivered to a modern audience that was written 100 years ago… and hearing today’s audience roar with laughter. You just think that’s fabulous. That is incredibly pleasing.

For a full line-up of shows at the Waterside check online at atgtickets.com/aylesbury and book your tickets online or by calling 0844 871 7615 (fees apply. Calls charged at 7p per minute).

Competition Time: See Spike for yourself!

Have your ribs tickled and delve into the inner workings of one of our most unique and brilliantly irreverent comedy minds.

For your chance to win 2x tickets to Spike on Tue 25 Oct at 7.30pm simply tell us what his real name was:

1. Terence
2. Todd
3. Taylor

 Email Coralie at salesprv@live.co.uk by Friday 14^th October