The Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool, has announced the cast for their groundbreaking new Laurel And Hardy show – Sons Of The Desert!

Oliver Hardy will be played by Michael Starke (Bouncers, A Nightmare On Lime Street, Our Day Out) and Stan Laurel will be played by Roy Brandon (Brick Up The Mersey Tunnels, The Salon, Council Depot Blues). The two are looking forward to bringing the world’s most famous double act to life.

Roy Brandon is looking forward to the role, ““Me and Mickey have known each other for years and whenever we get together we have such a laugh. We’ve both done our fair share of stand up and impressions ad we have been saying for a long time that we should do some sort of double act, so this is perfect for us both! It’s a big ask because they are such massive screen icons but we will have a ball doing it and hopefully the audience will too!”

Michael Starke is keen to get started, “It’s a massive privilege to get an iconic role like this, it’s the chance to play one of my comedy heroes in my home town. I’ve worked with Roy before in Cavern Of Dreams many years ago and it will be brilliant to get up on stage with him again. I’ve already started trying to put the weight on for the part so fingers crossed I’ll look right for the show!”

Roy and Michael are joined by a supporting cast of Matt Connor (Around The World In 80 Days – New Vic), Lori Haley Fox (9 to 5 Tour), Jonathan Markwood (Lennon – Royal Court Liverpool) and Penelope Woodman (Birds Of A Feather Tour).

Ken Alexander is directing this world premiere stage version of Laurel and Hardy’s Sons Of The Desert. The script for the play is a direct transcript of the famous film script and the ambitious project will be the first of its kind. The producers have secured the rights to transfer the show to the West End if it is a success and has the backing of the rights holders to both the Laurel and Hardy franchise and the film itself.

Kevin Fearon, the show’s Producer and Chief Executive of Royal Court Liverpool, is really excited by the project, “This is a show that I have been hoping to be able to produce for a few years now. I’ve always been a big fan of Laurel and Hardy (who isn’t?!) and everyone involved in the project has leapt at the chance to be involved. There are some big challenges involved in transferring a film to stage but we know how dedicated Stan and Ollie fans are so we are determined to get it just right. We know how much our Liverpool audience loves a good comedy so we’re producing one of the best!”

There has never before been a stage version of this classic slapstick comedy so get down to The Court and get ready to watch the boys get into another fine mess.

Sons Of The Desert will run from Friday 27th September to Saturday 26th October 2013.

Tickets and information are available from www.royalcourtliverpool.com or on 0870 787 1866.