Roy Hudd is backing an open-air production close to his heart

Legendary comedian and entertainer Roy Hudd is backing an open-air production close to his heart coming soon to Lytham Hall. Comedian and BBC Radio Lancashire presenter Steve Royle will play the lead role in “Dan Leno, a Royal Jester”, a play written and produced by Blackpool’s David Slattery-Christy which comes to Lytham Hall on Saturday 24th August. The play, set in a mental asylum, tells the poignant story of the life and death of Victorian music hall superstar Dan Leno. Roy Hudd, 83, President of the British Music Hall society, watched Steve Royle and his cast at the Royal Hippodrome Theatre at Eastbourne in June and was impressed by the play and the performance. . “This is a play that captures the heart and soul and genius of our greatest Victorian comedian, Dan Leno ‘ The Funniest Man on Earth’ - h s triumphs, his sorrows, his unfulfilled dreams and his fulfilled disasters,” he writes in the programme for the forthcoming production at Lytham Hall.

Roy Hudd made his name with comedy shows like the long-running News Huddlines and stage appearances as Fagin and Bud Flanagan had a successful spell as undertaker Archie Shuttleworth in Coronation Street and was awarded an OBE for services to the entertainment industry in 2004.

He met up backstage with Steve Royle and his company which includes Andy Cooke, a regular performer with local amdram group The Fylde Coast Players, in Eastbourne, one of six venues visited on a nationwide summer tour.

His praise and encouragement for the actors is wholehearted.

“It is beautifully cast and played, very moving and, best of all, it is very funny. Steve Royle as Leno is a revelation - a master comic playing a master comic”.

Tickets for Dan Leno, A Royal Jester, which premiered at last year’s Lytham Festival are available online and at six local ticket outlets. www.ticketsource .co.uk www.lowtherpavilion.co.uk Full details from Lytham Hall www.lythamhall.org.uk