Simon Friend Entertainment is delighted to announce that Bill Bryson’s smash-hit memoir, Notes From A Small Island, will journey to the stage in a national UK Tour starring TV favourite Les Dennis as much-loved writer Bill Bryson. The tour opens at the Richmond Theatre on Tuesday 14 January 2025.
This stage adaptation celebrates one of the nation’s most beloved books by one of the country’s most treasured authors. Notes From A Small Island spent three years in The Sunday Times bestsellers list and sold over two million copies. BBC Radio 4 listeners voted it as the book which best represents England.
Les Dennis is one of the UK’s best-known entertainers with a career in showbusiness spanning over 50 years. Born in Liverpool, Les came to prominence as a comedian in the 1970s after honing his act on the northern Working Men’s Club circuit and turning pro after a winning set on New Faces. More success in TV comedies followed in the 1980s when he starred in The Russ Abbot Show and The Les Dennis Laughter Show, and formed a hugely popular double-act with comedy partner Dustin Gee, cut-short by Dustin’s untimely death. Les cemented his place as a mainstay of Saturday night television as the host of ITV’s Family Fortunes between 1987 and 2002. In 2023 he returned to Saturday night TV with a fleeting but fun turn on BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing.
Notes From A Small Island reunites the Watermill Theatre’s original creative team and is Adapted by Tim Whitnall, Directed by Paul Hart, Designed by Katie Lias with Lighting Design by Ali Hunter, Sound Design by Ed Lewis and Projection Design by George Reeve.
Originally produced at The Watermill Theatre.
