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Comedy Director & Writer

"Octopus Soup! is a breath of fresh airThere’s never a dull moment and lots of laughs.Fine acting, excellent comic timing and a fast-paced plot.A good old Brit comedy"

UK Theatre Network

"Octopus Soup! will have you crying with laughter.If you long for a good belly laugh, then this brand-new British farce Octopus Soup! is the performance to see"

Newstyle Radio

"Octopus Soup! easily earns its laughsAn entertaining farce with a moral message that delivers on laughs…Plenty of entertaining physical comedy"

The Stage

“The actors are hilarious. The health effects of laughter are considerable, and the Theatre of Kotka gives an honorable contribution for a better health”

The Mummy - Kymen Sanomat, Finland

“…audience rewards the gags with constant laughter and applause. The Mummy, a classic to live for five thousand years”

The Mummy - La Platea, Argentina

“A delightfully silly and gloriously entertaining evening.”

The Mummy - Reviewsgate

“If you long for a good belly laugh, then this brand-new British farce! Octopus Soup!… is the performance to see.”

Newstyle Radio

"From deepest, darkest, dangerous Egypt a legendary curse is stirring back into life and we're all going along for an outrageous, terrifying ride!" Now available from stagescripts.com

"I love the unpredictability of his writing across all his work that I have read. There is always an eccentric angle taken as he explores ideas and characters and that leads to strong and performable comedy."

Joe Harmston, theatre director

"There is a lot to love about Octopus Soup, including Marvin’s witty one-liners and Malapropisms and Gloria’s chaotic character”

Chalmers News PR

"The first thing we ask is whether the director can bring something a bit different, a vision that we never envisaged. Jack did that brilliantly for us with Maggie's End."

Ed Waugh co-author of Maggie's End

Coming to the Lyceum: Octopus Soup! – July 8th

Just to confirm, we’ve had some cracking news: John Nicholson (yes, that John Nicholson of Peepolykus brilliance) is directing Octopus Soup. He’s read the script, loved it, and is bringing his trademark comic precision and physical theatre flair to the show.

And now we're having a rehearsed reading on Monday 8th July at 3:00pm, in the Ambassadors Room at the Lyceum Theatre. It’s the perfect chance to see the mayhem in action before we launch this beast into the West End.

What is it? A comedy that’s part farce, part heist, part… cephalopod-based corporate meltdown. Think The Play That Goes Wrong meets Run For Your Wife, with an octopus thrown in.

Mark and I have done a major rewrite since its 2019 No.1 UK tour and the show’s been selling out in Prague for the last 18 months (and down to run until the end of the year) - and so we know it works, and it lands.

Casting will be announced soon (some great names already circling), but we wanted you to be in the loop early. This is happening and fast.

So if you’re up for some laughs, surprises, and a project with serious legs (eight, in fact), we’d love to see you there.

Looking for Jack’s presentation skills courses? Click here for Stand up and Deliver.