Upcoming Play Reading.
ARE YOU BEING SERVED
BY DAVID CROFT / JEREMY LLOYD
LOCATION - Q Factory, Amsterdam.
DATE - JUNE 29TH - 13:00.
Lovers of innuendo and British humor, Flying Circus fans and seekers of laughs – look no further than this uproarious play. To the delight of fans everywhere, this popular British television comedy is now a stage show that revels in nonstop double entendres.
When the motley crew of the Grace Brothers department store prepare for a sale of German goods and then depart for a staff holiday in Spain, they survive their stay in the tropics at a one star establishment and their encounters with everything from a Spanish crumpet to randy revolutionaries with everything intact but their modesty.
ABOUT ARE YOU BEING SERVED:
Are You Being Served? is a British television sitcom that was broadcast from 1972 to 1985. It was created and written by David Croft and Jeremy Lloyd.
The series was broadcast on the BBC for ten series, totalling sixty-nine episodes between 8 September 1972 and 1 April 1985, including five Christmas specials. The sitcom proved a ratings hit with UK audiences, and gained international recognition when broadcast across several English-speaking countries, including Canada, New Zealand, Australia, the Republic of Ireland, and the United States; the latter gaining it a loyal following when PBS television stations began airing reruns in the mid-1980s, along with other British sitcoms.
Are You Being Served? was one of several series predominant at the period that was adapted into a feature film release. It was adapted into the 1977 film of the same name and was also followed by the spin-off series Grace & Favour with the same main cast in 1991–1992. In 2004, it was ranked 20th in a television countdown of Britain's Best Sitcom.A one-off episode with a new cast was created in 2016. Both the sitcom – including its pilot and Christmas specials – the spin-off and the film have since been released on DVD.
Premise of the series:
Are You Being Served? focuses on the lives of the staff of the fictional department store Grace Brothers, who work within the clothing departments for men and women respectively, alongside their senior staff, maintenance workers and the store's owner. The sitcom focused on the staff dealing with various issues such as frictions between each other, ideas to improve sales, and the effects of local events that impacted the store's running. A key humorous base of the series was a parody of the British class system, which permeated a range of relationships and interactions between the show's characters, such as conversations between the maintenance men and sales personnel or management. The episodes rarely featured locations outside the store, mostly being focused on the shop floor used by the two departments, and the staff-only areas. Characters also rarely addressed each other by their first names, even after work, instead using their surnames in the manner of "Mr", "Miss", or "Mrs".
The sitcom featured humour based on sexual innuendo, misunderstanding, mistaken identity, farce, and occasional slapstick. In addition, there were sight gags generated by outrageous costumes which the characters were sometimes required to wear for store promotions, and gaudy store displays sometimes featuring malfunctioning robotic mannequins. The show is remembered for its prolific use of double entendres. Alongside the comedy, some episodes also conducted specialised dance routines which were choreographed either to be natural or sometimes comedic in effect.
Previous Play Readings.
May 25 - 2025.