The Wilma Theater is thrilled to present the U.S. Premiere of Ying Tong – A Walk With the Goons by UK playwright, Roy Smiles, and directed by Wilma co-Artistic Director, Jiri Zizka. Ying Tong – A Walk With the Goons chronicles the story of the famous BBC Radio comedy series The Goon Show and its surge from cult status to raving success, showcasing the series’ trademark surrealism and profound silliness.

The show begins previews on February 13, opens on February 20, and closes on March 16, 2008. Tickets are $37-$52 and are available by calling the Wilma Box Office at (215) 546-7824 or online at www.wilmatheater.org.

Before Monty Python invaded television, The Goon Show – famed not only for its surreal humor, puns, and catchphrases but also for its groundbreaking sound effects – made an entire nation laugh week after week. The Goons met in the 1940s, and like many of the post war entertainers, they all began performing while serving in World War II. Running from 1951 – 1960, the show changed the face of British comedy and greatly influenced Python, the Beatles, and many others. Monty Python star Michael Palin has said, “For me, the Goons were to comedy what Elvis was to music.” John Cleese declared writer Spike Milligan “the Great God to us all."

With Ying Tong, UK playwright Roy Smiles delves into the mind of Goon writer and “godfather of alternative comedy” Spike Milligan who is going gaga from the strain of creating comic genius. Wild fantasies of Jewish leprechauns, gay Vikings, and malevolent Morris dancers are springing from his fragmented brain. Fellow Goons, the future Dr. Strangelove Peter Sellers, Harry Secombe, and announcer Wallace Greenslade, scramble to recover Milligan’s missing marbles and save his sanity. Ying Tong took England by storm when it premiered in London. The Sunday Times wrote, “The show has an invigorating spirit of insanity. I recommend it with relish!”

Discussing what drew him to write about the Goons, Smiles – who also worked as a stand up comic for six years – says, “I grew up with an older brother who introduced me to Woody Allen, Sergeant Bilko, Monty Python, and the Goons. They were repeated on the radio all through my childhood on BBC Radio. All my relatives used to do all the voices at weddings (and funerals), so it was just a thing I grew up with and Milligan was one of my heroes from an early age.”

Ying Tong draws from the factual history of The Goon Show and Milligan, who suffered a nervous breakdown during the run of the show – resulting in his absence from twelve episodes. The intense pressure of the show also contributed to the failure of his marriage and an attempt to murder Peter Sellers with a potato peeler. Milligan was later diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

Much like Milligan’s struggles with constant creative output, Smiles found himself going “slightly barmy” while writing 24 drafts of the play for 3 different directors. “My journey to the centre of Milligan's brain came a little too close to the journey to the centre of my own brain,” he says. “The inability to sustain relationships due to an obsessive need to write/create comedy from darkness hit rather too close to home. Milligan being a national institution here in England I was also assailed with people telling me how and what to write i.e.: 'Milligan would never have said 'hello' on a Thursday...'”

Smiles is a playwright and actor from West London. His 14 plays have been staged in over thirty productions in countries as far and wide as Sweden, Israel, New Zealand, South Africa, and Australia. His plays include: Top Of The Town, a pastiche of Hollywood movies; Schmucks, a fictitious meeting between Lenny Bruce and Groucho Marx; the anti-capital punishment play Idiot’s Waltz; the political farce Roberto Calvi Is Alive & Well, which won a Guinness Fringe Theatre Award; Danny Boy, a satire on religion and politics in Northern Ireland; his anti-poll tax comedy The Court Jester; and Stand Up, concerning Smiles’ days as a stand up comic, among several others. As an actor Roy has acted in many television shows, including regular roles in the series Frank Stubbs Promotes (ITV) and Operation Good Guys (BBC2). On film he played Itzac Heller in Roman Polanski’s Oscar-winning film The Pianist.

The Wilma’s production features a talented ensemble cast of both American and British actors. David Beach (Spike Milligan) most recently performed in the NYC premiere of Michael Hollinger's Opus at Primary Stages, and his Broadway credits include Mamma Mia, Urinetown (original Broadway and off-Broadway cast), and Moon Over Buffalo.

Steven Beckingham (Peter Sellers), originally from England, makes his East Coast debut with Ying Tong. His credits include a national tour of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? with Kathleen Turner and Bill Irwin and UK work with TNT Theatre Britain, Union Theatre, and Shakespeare’s Globe Education, among others.

Ed Jewett (Harry Secombe), a New York-based actor, makes his Wilma debut. His New York credits include productions with Resonance Ensemble, Manhattan Theatre Source, City Theatre Company, and Oberon Theatre Ensemble, and his recent film credits include John Adams (HBO Films), Old Dogs (Walt Disney Pictures), and World Trade Center (Paramount 2006).

Colin McPhillamy (Wallace Greenslade) spent five seasons with The Royal National Theatre, has extensive West End, regional, and TV credits, and has been a regular contributor of plays and short stories to BBC Radio.

The creative team includes set designer David P. Gordon, costume designer Janus Stefanowicz, lighting designer Jerold R. Forsyth, and sound designer Jorge Cousineau.

The Wilma's 2007-2008 season is sponsored by The Sporting Club and Park Hyatt at the Bellevue, and WHYY. Ying Tong – A Walk With the Goons is sponsored by the DoubleTree Hotel, and honorary producers are David and Linda Glickstein.