Inbetweeners dad to star in new skatepark-set play

James GrantNorthamptonshire
News imageGetty Images A close up of a man in a black suit and white shirt. Getty Images
David Schaal, best known as Jay's dad in the comedy The Inbetweeners, will star in Top G's Like Me

One of the cast of the hit comedy The Inbetweeners is to star in a new play about toxic masculinity.

The auditorium of the Royal and Derngate in Northampton will also be transformed to reflect Britain's first ever indoor skatepark - Radlands - for a run of the new play, Top G's Like Me.

The cast will include David Schaal - who plays Jay's father in the coming-of-age TV comedy series - as well as EastEnders actor Danny Hatchard.

According to the theatre, Top G's Like Me follows a group of "rudderless" young adults in a "world of seething toxic masculinity, misogyny and questions about consent".

Jesse Jones, artistic director at the Royal and Derngate, said: "It is provocative and painfully funny, bringing the addictive and dark world of social media shorts and reels onto the stage."

News imageSkatepark, showing pipes and steps in white paving slabs. There are also benches. Several youngsters are playing on skateboards. There is a grass area in the background. There are also some youngsters on bikes.
The auditorium will be transformed to reflect Northampton's Radlands Skatepark

The auditorium will be "totally transformed" to reflect the local skatepark, which was originally built in 1992 and closed in 2004 because it was deemed to be unprofitable.

It then re-opened in 2012.

The cast will be joined by a community chorus, the "internet ensemble", representing the online world on stage and made up of 25 third-year drama students from the University of Northampton.

Jones added: "It brings me so much pride to be platforming urgent new writing on our largest stage, transforming our Derngate auditorium into Northampton's Radlands Plaza skatepark.

"It is provocative and painfully funny, bringing the addictive and dark world of social media shorts and reels onto the stage."

A workshop set up alongside the play will create 360 pieces of street art.

Top G's Like Me, by Samson Hawkins, runs from 23 February to 7 March.

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