About: The Ho-Ho Club

Sally Lindsay, known to millions of TV viewers as Coronation Street's Rovers Return landlady Shelly Unwin, stars in The Ho-Ho Club, a comedy about stand-up by Roy Smiles, and directed by Karl Howman, at The King's Head Theatre, Islington, London N1

Raucous, funny, and sad, The Ho-Ho Club is set both on stage and backstage at a stand-up comedy club in South London. During the course of a wild eventful Saturday night, five comedians – a television star, a comic desperately trying to re-invent himself, his ex partner now on the slide, the obnoxious compere/club owner and the fragile open-spot – come to terms with their lives and talents.

Cast also includes: Stephen Dean, Katy-Jo Howman, Roger Kitter, Dave Mayberry, Billy Miller, Roy Smiles

Reviews

CRITICS CHOICE
The Guardian

CRITICS CHOICE
-Standard Lite

'Laden with gags... a fun evening'
**** (4 stars)
-Time Out

**** (4 stars)
'Roger Kitter delivers laugh lines with the perfect timing of an old
school master comedian. All aspiring stand-ups should be required to
see him in action'
-Roger Foss, Whatsonstage.com

'As a documentary portrait of backstage conversation, it doesn't go
wrong. The script is witty and genuine, with characters and
relationships you can believe in and a storyline that flirts with the
'tears of clown' cliché but never makes heavy weather of it. Roger
Kitter, who was the cowardly Italian officer in "Allo Allo", does
manage to achieve something very few actors can – actually deliver a
set that sounds like a real stand-up. The first night audience, which
included Bobby Davro, Christopher Biggins, Max Clifford and Dot
Cotton, lapped it up.'
-Steve Bennett, Chortle

'As nervous novice Debbie Thomas, Katy-Jo Howman gives a brilliantly
observed portrait of a new girl petrified by stage fright as the
spotlight closes in on her terrified but pretty face before her debut
gig ends in stunned silence.'
-Roger Foss, Whatsonstage.com

"Sally Lindsay, last seen pulling pints and getting pregnant as
Rover's Return landlady Shelley Unwin in Coronation Street, is on form
as buxom top banana Linda Walsh, delivering a ballsy act that would
make even Bernard Manning blush.'
-Roger Foss, Whatsonstage.com

'Top of the bill is Sally Lindsay, formerly landlady of the Rovers
Return in 'Coronation Street', who plays comedienne Linda Walsh.
Lindsay's performance is solid and professionally convincing'
-Peter Brown, Londontheatre.co.uk

'Playwright Roy Smiles and director Karl Howman have succeeded in
portraying a slice of life as a stand-up comic; a slice that comprises
fakery, cynicism and depression, topped off and prettified by a hefty
portion of comedy.'
-Caroline Bishop, Officiallondontheatre.co.uk

'Sally Lindsay, Corrie's Shelley Unwin, impresses as brassy Boltonian
Linda'
-Bruce Dessau, Evening Standard

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"The Ho-Ho Club"