Quiz Tickets

Is this a theatre show about a quiz? Yes, and why not! The great British quiz show has been a staple of our TV watching habits since Take Your Pick came to ITV in the 1950s. The Saturday night primetime slot was littered with game shows for decades, a reason for the family to come together and play along or argue nonstop.

So, why turn it into a theatre production? Well, QUIZ is much more than just a game show. It’s about the lengths we are prepared to go to in order to win, to take home the jackpot, to be the greatest. It’s centred around Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?, specifically the “coughing scandal” of Major Charles Ingram. He won the top prize, £1 million, on the show in 2001, but was convicted of cheating when it was found his wife and a friend were sat in the audience coughing when the correct answer was read out.

Scandalous indeed! Absolutely. It’s becoming a bit of a reputation for the playwright, James Graham, to write work that is divisive, examining the human psychology within controversial and potentially inflammatory subjects. Graham is best known for political shows This House and The Vote, so he’s no stranger to controversial topics.

James Graham – he’s been on the West End before then? He has indeed. Not just with the above productions, but in 2017 alone he had two productions running on the West End concurrently – INK is at the Duke of York’s Theatre until January 2018 and Labour of Love, starring Martin Freeman and Tamsin Grieg, recently closed at the Noel Coward Theatre.

And QUIZ is a transfer? That’s right. It was on at Chichester Festival Theatre until December 2017 – the Artistic Director, Daniel Evans, is also part of the creative team transferring the show to London’s West End. The cast and other creative team haven’t yet been confirmed, but with Daniel at the helm they are sure to be a winning combination. He’s no stranger to transfers you see – the last show to transfer from Chichester Festival Theatre also went into the Noel Coward Theatre, played for just under a year and achieved three Olivier Award nominations. Which one is it? Why, Half A Sixpence of course!