Young Ones stars Ade Edmondson and Nigel Planer reunited in Edinburgh

THEY might not be the young ones anymore, but there's sure to be laughs at The King's next week when two Comic Strip favourites, Ade Edmondson and Nigel Planer, are reunited.
Ade Edmondson as Gary Savage and Nigel Planer as Hugh Delavois
LoisAde Edmondson as Gary Savage and Nigel Planer as Hugh Delavois
Lois
Ade Edmondson as Gary Savage and Nigel Planer as Hugh Delavois Lois

The vehicle that sees their worlds collide once again is Vulcan 7, a ‘sci-fi’ play written by and starring the pair.

Actor-comedians Edmondson and Planer rose to fame in TV sitcoms The Comic Strip Presents… and the BRIT award-winning cult classic The Young Ones and have performed together in Filthy, Rich and Catflap and in the spoof band Bad News.

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In their latest comedy, Vulcan 7, they co-star as former drama students, Gary Savage and Hugh Delavois, one a plodding actor, the other a struggling Hollywood star, both now in their 60s, they are reunited on Icelandic wasteland, on the set of a fantasy movie.

Hugh has landed the role of Vulcan’s butler and he’s making his seventh film for the franchise.

Gary is a one-time Hollywood A-lister playing a guest monster with four hours in make-up and one word in the script. Sparks fly inside the trailer as old wounds are opened.

Leela, a runner, attempts to keep the peace, but outside the trailer things are not going to plan either: the director’s gone AWOL, the catering truck’s on the wrong side of a ravine, and the volcanic activity is growing more lively by the minute…

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Edmondson, who plays Gary Savage, is well known for his role in TV sitcom Bottom which he wrote and starred in with the late Rik Mayall.

He explains that the idea of the play came when he was sitting in his trailer waiting for his call to film as Captain Peavey in Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

“It occurred to me when I was sitting in a trailer doing Star Wars that getting dressed up in ridiculous costumes and sitting in a caravan all day is an odd way to make a living.

“The filming process is mainly getting ready, which usually involves a degree of discomfort and then waiting, waiting, waiting…”

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It’s hard to believe Edmondson and Planer could ever have imagined they’d be still working together when they first met all those years ago, but Edmondson has words of wisdom to impart, “The key to all enduring relationships is tolerance and booze,” he says.

He adds, “The best thing about doing a play is that once you’re on, you’re on. In the theatre, the story starts and you get to be that character for the next two hours - you go on the journey with him.”

Vulcan 7, King’s Theatre, Leven Street, Monday 5-Saturday 10 November, 7.30pm (2.30pm), £19-£32.50, 0131-529 6000 Age 14+w