The Queen’s Theatre, Hornchurch celebrates a hugely successful Spring Season with an exciting finale – the London Premiere of Absolutely Frank, a new comedy by Tim Firth between 23 May and 14 June.

On the edge of a building high above a busy ring-road, we meet Head of Installation Frank and his teenage work experience apprentice Alan. Frank is in charge of putting up giant letters on the sides of buildings, but he also has dreams and much prefers writing spy thrillers set in Leningrad to his day job in Batley, West Yorkshire.

Stories of danger and disaster fill Frank’s imagination until one fateful day when these things start to happen for real. On a third floor ledge with a terrifying sixty foot drop below, something incredible happens and Frank learns more about himself than he ever thought possible. In this hilarious, heart-rending drama crammed with sharp observations of everyday life, we discover fulfilment, friendship and floor bracketing systems!

Lancashire-born screen writer and playwright Tim Firth is best-known as author of the hugely successful film Calendar Girls in 2003, starring Dame Helen Mirren and Julie Walters. His impressive stage credits include hit West End comedy Neville’s Island, which played to sell-out audiences at the Queen’s last Spring, and the musical Our House, which won him a coveted Olivier award. Tim also wrote hit television series All Quiet on the Preston Front and Once Upon a Time in the North as well as the film Kinky Boots.

Absolutely Frank began life as a one-act play called A Man Of Letters commissioned by Alan Ayckbourn (author of Relatively Speaking staged at the Queen’s in March) for Scarborough’s famous Stephen Joseph Theatre. It has now been worked into a full-length piece and the Queen’s is delighted to be the first London theatre to stage this brilliant comedy.

Absolutely Frank is sponsored by Concept Windows and Conservatories, of Billet Lane, Hornchurch.

CLICK HERE for CT's Review

Absolutely Frank will be playing at the Queen’s Theatre, Billet Lane, Hornchurch, from 23 May April to 14 June.  Tickets cost between £12.50 and £20 and are available from the Box Office on 01708 443333. For more details visit www.queens-theatre.co.uk

“Firth’s narrative freewheels, as if released from earth bound constraints.” The Stage

“A compassionate and clever comedy.” The Telegraph