The Roman Invasion of Ramsbottom

From the creators of Drake and The Ragged Child comes a delightful send-up of first-century Roman Britannia: The Roman Invasion of Ramsbottom. So entertaining is the show that in 1980, ITV filmed a performance of it and aired it on Boxing Day!

The Roman's Return is an 84 A.D. rowdy bar where "everybody knows your name." A favorite of the locals, especially Agricola, who is in love with Gracie the barmaid, The Roman's Return is in threat of being flattened, so that a new chariotway connecting Britannia and Rome can be built. It's up to its feisty, British regulars to stop the Sicilian Brotherhood, Conkus Maximus and their bulldozer-like Taurus Soporens from demolishing the beloved watering hole... or worse: turning it into an Italian chain restaurant!

Perfect for an audience of Monty Python-lovers and quick-wit junkies, The Roman Invasion of Ramsbottom is a wonderful choice for theatres that have an older, wiser patron-base. The piece has been as successfully staged with adult actors as it has been with young artists. Essentially, the creative limits of the piece are based solely on the minds of the producer and director – The options are endless!

The setting is ninth-century Roman Britannia, and only two things stand in the way of Sicilian mafia boss Don Baloni's plan to commandeer the new British roads and turn the future England into a bonanza of Italian take-out restaurants and ice cream stands: a quaint pub sitting smack in the middle of the construction zone and its feisty British patrons. It's an hilarious, anachronistic and very English farce with shades of Monty Python.