A Funny Thing Happening in Horncastle...

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.

A Funny Thing is Happening in Horncastle, where the town’s theatre company will be taking us back to the Roman era...

Horncastle Theatre Company are deep in preparation for their summer production, the stage adaptation of the 1966 comedy musical farce A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, which they performed back in 2000 – when their leading lady hadn’t even been born yet!

The show is set in Rome in around 200BC where we find that Hero, the son of wealthy Roman gentleman Senex and his overbearing wife, Domina, has fallen in love with the beautiful Philia who works as a courtesan in the brothel next door.

But it turns out Philia isn’t actually a courtesan at all, and she is pledged in marriage to conquering Roman captain Miles Gloriosus, a big and bombastic soldier, who is on his way back from battle to claim her.

The cast of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.

Senex’s long-suffering slave, Pseudolus, makes a deal with his master that he will get the girl for Hero so they can run away together in return for his freedom.

But of course, the path does not run smoothly, and there is a great deal of farcical mistaken identities, cross-dressing, and unrequited love thrown in for good measure.

Directed by Dominic Hinkins, the show is promised as a “romantic musical farce” based on the Roman plays of the time and he promises that audiences will see the show exactly as a Roman audience would see it.

"We did it 23 years ago and never stopped talking about doing it and felt comfortable enough to redo it, not better but differently with our own spin,” he said.

"Our leading lady wasn’t born when we did it before and I was ten years old, which shows how much of an impact it has had on us and we’ve got more technology this time around.

“It will appeal to people who have seen Plebs most recently, and those who have seen Up Pompeii and the Carry On films back in the day.”

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum will be performed at the Red Lion Theatre in Horncastle from Wednesday July 12 to Saturday July 22.

Tickets are £8, or £7 for concessions, and are available from Horncastle Theatre Compnay’s website at https://www.horncastletheatre.co.uk/ and from the box office located at Rose & B.