Crash-landing loudly into the rambunctious world of Edwardian Music Hall, Big Society! follows the on- and off-stage exploits of the cast of a Music Hall variety show.

It’s 1910 and the cast are fighting for survival, threatened with shock/horror disclosures by a corrupt and moralistic newspaper, ‘The Double Standard’. (Yes, the whole show is based soundly on the premise “Where have I heard that before?”). Trapped between an elitist, public-schooled government and a two-faced, mercenary press, the performers grapple to justify their existence and hold onto their jobs – that is, until Eve, escapologist and mistress to King Edward VII, decides to take things into her own hands.

Written by Chumbawamba founder member and guitarist, Boff Whalley, the show opens at The City Varieties Music Hall in Leeds in January 2012, the show features the band performing twelve new songs, alongside the cast of the show. The show also stars comedian Phill Jupitus in the title role of George Lightfeather.

This show is the fourth collaboration between Red Ladder Theatre Company and the band, the first to feature Phill Jupitus. Previous shows written for the company by Boff Whalley include UK tours – Sex & Docks & Rock ‘n’ Roll and Riot, Rebellion & Bloody Insurrection.