JW3, the Jewish Community Centre in London, will present the first-ever staged performance of Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner's The 2000 Year Old Man next March.
Mel Brooks starred as the oldest man in the world in the original 2000 Year Old Man comedy routines broadcast on television beginning in 1961. The skits were also released as a series of albums over the years, and adapted as an animated TV special in 1975. The stage adaptation by Kerry Shale will feature selections from the five albums presented in an exact re-creation of the original timing.
Chris Neill will take the Carl Reiner role of The Interviewer, wearing headphones for period authenticity. Shale will play Brooks's persona of The 2000 Year Old Man, who comments on various highlights and not-so-high lights of world history, from the origin of the Cross (easier to put together than the Star of David) to Joan of Arc ("Ah, what a cutie"). The greatest thing mankind ever devised? "Saran Wrap."
The means of transportation back in caveman days? "Mostly fear." The secret of his longevity? "The major thing is that I never, ever touch fried food." But "I have over 42,000 children, and not one comes to visit me."
Actor and voiceover artist Kerry Shale's many stage credits include The Normal Heart at the Royal Court and Frost/Nixon at the Donmar Warehouse, both of which transferred to the West End, and numerous solo shows. His voiceover work includes video games such as Tomb Raider and Dog's Life titles and cartoons such as Dennis the Menace and The Cartoon Network's BAFTA and Emmy Award-winning animated series The Amazing World of Gumball.
Coincidentally or not, Shale plays Harry S Truman in the recent Swedish film about another long-lived character, The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared.
Chris Neill is a stand-up comedian (five solo shows at the Edinburgh Fringe), voiceover artist and BBC Radio producer and contributor.
Matthew Lloyd, former Co-Artistic Director of the Manchester Royal Exchange, will direct The 2000 Year Old Man, which runs from March 9-22, 2015.
