By TheatreVillage 
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OYA Theatre Company, those award-winning wizards of contemporary Queer musical theatre, are set to tickle your funny bone and tug at your heartstrings with their delightfully cheeky hit show, Four Felons and a Funeral. Mark your calendars, folks! This fabulous escapade will be gracing the Birmingham Hippodrome from Thursday 26 September to Saturday 28 September.
Picture this: a raucous road-trip rom-com that’s as unpredictable as a cat on catnip! It features four emerging, LGBTQIA+ music theatre actors who are ready to take you on a wild ride filled with laughter, love, and maybe a few questionable life choices (hey, who hasn’t had one of those?). This show promises to be an absolute riot and is an absolute must-see for our beloved Patrick Studio audiences this autumn. So grab your mates, put on your best outfit (or don’t – we don’t judge), and prepare for an unforgettable night where hilarity meets heartfelt moments in true theatrical style!
Ever thought of nicking someone’s ashes? Neither had Millie. Now she’s hurtling down the M6 in a Fiat Punto with three accomplices, forty-five packets of crisps, and a large decorative urn. “Four Felons and a Funeral” follows four dysfunctional friends as they navigate grief, love, and the law on a road trip to scatter their mate’s ashes. Along the way, they experience the five essential stages of grief: screaming, shouting, fighting, fainting, and legging it from justice.
Penned by Sam Woof with music and lyrics by Sam Woof and Math Roberts, “Four Felons and a Funeral” is a feel-good caper featuring a sharp musical score and an uproariously funny script. Both hilarious yet biting; nostalgic yet melancholic—this uplifting show blends musical theatre with pop and jazz to create an entirely unique sound that’s as accessible as it is distinct.
GOYA Theatre Company are an award-winning theatre company. In 2023, Four Felons and a Funeral sold out previews at the King’s Head Theatre and Other Palace Theatre in London, before transferring to the Pleasance at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe for a further sell-out run.
Four Felons and a Funeral is written and directed by Sam Woof. Sam Woof (they/them) is a theatre-maker based in London. As writer/director, their credits include Sex with Friends and other tiny catastrophes (North Wall Arts Centre, Pleasance Courtyard – Winner of Musical Theatre Review’s Edinburgh Fringe Special Award), Fine Thanks: A Verbatim Musical (Savoy Theatre). Assistant director credits include Enron (Oxford Playhouse), Something in the Air (Jermyn Street Theatre), Top Hat (The Mill at Sonning) and The Swell (Orange Tree Theatre). Sam is one of The Stage’s Fringe Five 2023. They have most recently been the Resident Associate Director at the Orange Tree Theatre and they are the artistic director of GOYA.
Music and lyrics are by Sam Woof and Math Roberts. Math (he/him) is a Musical Director, Composer, Pianist, and Performer. After completing his BA in music at Oxford University, he trained at the Royal Academy of Music. Credits include The Enormous Crocodile (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre), O.G. Prince of Wales Workshop (Sherman Theatre, NTW), Berlusconi: A New Musical (Southwark Playhouse), The Light in The Piazza (Alexandra Palace), Peter Pan [Navigates the Travel Ban] (OSO Arts), and Merrily We Roll Along (Oxford Playhouse). He was also the composer for the Urdd Youth Theatre’s Ble Mae Trennau’n Mynd Outside of the theatre, he is a published composer in both chamber and choral music, and his most recent commission Llechi was performed at the Wales International Harp Festival in 2023.
The cast features Robyn Sinclair (she/her) as Millie; Conor Dumbrell (he/him) as Simon; Gareth Moriarty (they/them) as Wilf; and is completed with Maddy Maguire (she/her) who plays Bex. Four Felons and a Funeral is produced by Mrinmoyee Roy and Lowri Spear as GOYA Theatre Company. Set is designed by Sonya Smullen.
Formed in Oxford in 2019, GOYA Theatre Company create young, Queer, music theatre. GOYA is a Creative Associate at the North Wall Arts Centre and the recipient of the Musical Theatre Review’s Special Award for their programming at the Edinburgh Fringe 2022. Artistic Director Sam Woof was named one of The Stage’s Fringe Five in 2023.
Four Felons and a Funeral will run at Birmingham Hippodrome from Thursday 26 September – Saturday 28 September. Tickets can be booked by calling 0844 338 5000*
*0844 calls will cost you 4.5p per minute plus your phone company’s access charge.
