Sign of the Times

The play, a new comedy by Tim Firth writer of the fabulous Calendar Girls, was Sign of the Times staring Stephen Tompkinson (Wild at Heart, Ballykissangel, Brassed Off).

Tompkinson plays Frank Tollit, a twenty-five year veteran of the industry who is introducing trainee Alan (Tom Shaw) to the joys of sign installation on a ledge sixty feet above the streets of Yorkshire.

Frank’s aim is to impart his wealth of accumulated knowledge and wisdom to the young apprentice, but as the two struggle to sort out the components of the sign and make sense of the designer’s instructions, each discovers that the other has ambitions beyond their current situation.

Sign of the Times, directed by Peter Wilson and Produced by PW Productions, is wonderfully funny with a host of great one-liners yet, as things unfold and the characters reveal their latent ambitions, it is also very poignant.

You find yourself empathising with them as your thoughts turn to your own unfulfilled dreams. The play is currently on tour and if you have the chance to see it, you should, it was a great night out. Busman’s Holiday or not!

Sign of the Times is at the following venues over the next few weeks:

11th May - 16th May:
Grand Theatre, Blackpool
Box Office: 01253 290190

18th May - 23rd May:
Theatre Royal, Norwich
Box Office: 01603 630000

25th May - 30th May:
The Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham
Box Office: 01242 572573

1st June - 6th June:
The Playhouse, Oxford
Box Office: 01865 305305