Created and adapted by Andrew Dawson and Gavin Robertson, with additional material by Paul Kent and Wayne Forester, inspired from the works of Gerry Anderson.
5 4 3 2 1 - Thunderbirds are GO! Time is invaluable - the penalty for delay could be disaster! Cheer as Captain Scarlet fights the evil Captain Black and the Mysterons while Brains, Scott and Virgil join forces with Lady Penelope and Parker to save the world - again.
Performed as a double-bill with Andrew Dawson's Space Panorama, about the Apollo XI space landing, featuring music by Dimitri Shostakovitch.
1991 West End Premiere at Mermaid Theatre / Ambassadors Theatre
1993 1st West End Revival at the Apollo Theatre
2000: 2nd West End Revival at the Playhouse Theatre
2001: 3rd West End Revival at the Aldwych Theatre
1991 West End Premiere at Mermaid Theatre / Ambassadors Theatre
Previewed 30 May 1991, Opened 3 June 1991, Closed 24 August 1991 at the Mermaid Theatre
Previewed 18 September 1991, Opened 19 September 1991, Closed 25 April 1991 at the Ambassadors Theatre
Performed by Paul Kent and Wayne Forester.
Directed by Andrew Dawson and Gavin Robertson, with models by Richard Gregory, costumes by Barbara Robertson, lighting by Jim Hepplewhite, and music by Barry Gray.
1993 1st West End Revival at the Apollo Theatre
Previewed 16 July 1993, Opened 19 July 1993, Closed 4 September 1993 at the Apollo Theatre
Performed by Paul Kent and Wayne Forester.
Directed by Andrew Dawson and Gavin Robertson, with models by Richard Gregory, costumes by Barbara Robertson, lighting by Jim Hepplewhite, and music by Barry Gray.
2000: 2nd West End Revival at the Playhouse Theatre
Previewed 23 November 2000, Opened 29 November 2000, Closed 23 February 2001 at the Playhouse Theatre
Performed by Andrew Dawson and Gavin Robertson.
Directed by Andrew Dawson and Gavin Robertson, with sets by Graham Johnston, costumes by Lizzy Crewe, lighting by Jon Linstrum, and music by Barry Gray.
"The performers cleverly evoke the original television series’ would-be cinematic style, gently mocking its melodramatic cutaways and Barry Gray’s original, signposting music. But is the acting wooden enough?... The performers do not disappoint, with Gavin Robertson's vision-in-pink Lady Penelope capturing her ladylike bounce and Andrew Dawson hilariously mimicking the haphazard way Captain Scarlet fires a gun with a wayward arm, sagging knee, and an effete manner which reminds us of the camp kitsch of the original series... It's insubstantial fun, but children currently nagging their parents for a Tracy Island model will probably be bemused while only cheery 'Fanderson' obsessives will find these rocket-fuelled, retro kitsch antics a total blast." The Times
"Mime is like impersonation: it depends to a great degree on the audience's ability to recognise what is being represented... When you don't know what you're meant to be seeing, you attend instead to what you actually are watching. Andrew Dawson has exceptionally articulate hands, and a fondness for showing them off with various exaggeration of dynamics... A few mime artists - like a few impersonators - can entertain you wonderfully even when you know next to nothing of their subject-matter. Dawson is not one of these. Gavin Robertson, however, is halfway there. He draws no attention to his technique (which is considerable) and everything to the illusion he is creating." The Financial Times
"Yes, they're back; with Thunderbirds 1 and 2 mounted on their heads, Andrew Dawson and Gavin Robertson return to the West End with Thunderbirds FAB. Googly-eyed and wellyboot-clad, they bring fleshy life to Gerry Anderson's 1960s supermarionated adventure series, in a mime two-hander that first sprang to life as a Scottish fringe tour ten years ago... Nostalgic as this all may seem, you don't have to have been bought up on Sixties television to appreciate any of it - the references are accessible enough to have children laughing as Captain Scarlet gets his strings shot off and lollops around like a flaccid rag-doll. But as the sounds of Aqua Maria filter through the audience and we are taken to the Mysteron underworld on the seabed it's clear that this is mission accomplished in scoring the alternative adult panto hit of the season." The Independent
Thunderbirds FAB in London at the Playhouse Theatre previewed from 23 November 2000, opened on 29 November 2000, and closed on 23 February 2001
2001: 3rd West End Revival at the Aldwych Theatre
Previewed 11 December 2001, Opened 13 December 2001, Closed 6 January 2002 at the Aldwych Theatre
Performed by Andrew Dawson and Gavin Robertson.
Directed by Andrew Dawson and Gavin Robertson, with sets by Graham Johnston, costumes by Lizzy Crewe, lighting by Jon Linstrum, and music by Barry Gray.