Sex, Chips & Ouzo
By Kathleen Ruddy
PRESS RELEASE NOVEMBER 2005
Glasgow can’t get enough Sex, Chips & Ouzo…
Award-winning theatre company Rubber Ear Productions are heading back to Glasgow with their Cyprus hit ‘Sex, Chips and Ouzo’. Meanwhile, they are auditioning for two actors to take back with them. The Cyprus-inspired hit will be launched at ‘The International Glasgow Comedy Festival’ in March 2006 and then on an A-List tour of Scotland.
Writer / director Kathleen Ruddy, who stars in the play as serial shoplifter Sadie is busy scouting for her ‘kamakis’right here in Cyprus. She says ‘I think it’s important to retain the play’s authenticity and that means using Cypriot actors. I’ll be auditioning all next week then I’m flying out to London to have a look there.' The play which is set in Cyprus and during the polyester-pumping seventies follows two Glasgow pals’ Moira and Sadie and their summer of lovin’ circa 1978. While there they are met by taxi cabbin Yorgos and his sidekick, Sotiris. All four end up involved in each others’ lives and their fingers get somewhat burned by the experience. The dodgy disco dancing is just par for the farce course. Throw in a dash of ‘sharp as tacks’ one-liners, a couple of floral jumpsuits and you have the perfect recipe for a Cyprus sensation.
‘Sex, Chips and Ouzo’ was Ruddy’s second production for Rubber Ear and the play successfully toured in the United Kingdom for over a year, playing to sell-out houses throughout the run. When the play arrived in Cyprus for a tour two years ago the same success applied.
Ruddy added “I loved playing Cyprus; I wrote the play about there so it was a natural. Progression that the play would go down so well there with ex-pats and locals alike. But it’s great to get back on home turf. There’s nothing like a Glasgow audience for bringing this show alive”
Ruddy’s productions have won three prestigious awards in the past and if past performances are anything to go by the same might happen at The Comedy Festival.
Ruddy adds ‘As long as I get the right actors, who knows what might happen. I’m looking for Yorgos, sneaky, cheesy Kamaki and Sotiris a wannabe kamaki but a closet romantic. Both must be excellent comedy actors and be able to dance. Unfortunately we couldn’t take the original actors with us but one runs a business with his father so can’t commit for that length of time and the other guy just wasn’t suitable. We do need total commitment because we have a Welsh tour coming up too and the movie so we have to get it right. It’s a great opportunity for Cypriot actors. I hope we find them here’
Auditions
Auditions will take place in Paphos. Fort details call writer/director Kathleen Ruddy on 99908434. “Sex, Chips and Ouzo” can be seen at St. Andrew’s In The Square, Salt Market, starting on Thursday 9th of March through to Saturday 18th March (excluding 12th March) 2006.
Tickets & Reservations
All tickets are 11.00 (GBP) [Editors' Note: roughly USD 22.00]. Ticket bookings/ info hotline SECXTRA Tel: 0870 040 4000 or 0870 013 5464. Open daily from 09.00-21.00hrs. SECC Box Office is located at St. Enoch’s Centre. Open Mon-Sat 10.00 – 18.00 hrs Sun 12.00 – 1700 hrs. Book online: www.secxtra.com.
About the Theatre Company
For more information on Rubber Ear productions contact writer/director Kathleen Ruddy on 0785 408 7386 or visit www.rubberear.com. Contact the venue on 0141 559 5902 or visit www.standrewsinthesquare.com
Press Reviews
"A rip-roaring smutty delight" --THE INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY
"An excellent carry-on like farce" --THE DAILY EXPRESS
"Tipped to be the hit of the Fringe" --THE EVENING TIMES
"This is farce with a vein of vernacular realism un-mined by Talbot Rothwell" --THE INDEPENDENT
"What a Ruddy good show" --THE EVENING TIMES
"Sharply written, bursting with warmth and energy and performed with real infectious relish" --THE SCOTSMAN
"Played with superb comic timing by writer and director Kathleen Ruddy- Ruddy is a star performer and writer undoubtedly" --THE HERALD
"Tastier than a smoked sausage dipped in taramasalata….book the package deal to Cyprus today" --THE LIST
"If this isn't a recipe for the new British screenplay then I don't know what is" --THE STAGE
"I. . .[wet] my pants…the whole theatre erupted higher than the volcano in Dante's peak"--EK NEWS
‘Saturday Night fever’ meets ‘Zorba The Greek’ in this hilarious comedy about Moira and Sadie and their summer lovin’ in 1978 with two huge moustacheod, curly afroed, Greek pick-up merchants. The sex! The lies! The pickup! The patter! Join the two sparkly boob-tubed divas as they bop and boff their way round Cyprus 1978.
Tastier than a smoked sausage dipped in taramasalata, Kathleen Ruddy’s high-energy farce is a tale of holiday romance in the 70’s that is more Carry On Cyprus than Shirley Valentine. It would be no surprise if Sid James swaggered on with a straw donkey under his arm and a rose between his teeth.When two man-starved Weegie wivies, Sadie and Moira, win a dream trip to the Med, you can bet your last plate of Mousaka that it won’t be long before the local romeos swoop. And swoop they do. Yorgos and Sotiris are . . . taxi-cabbin’ would-be gigolos in flares, medallions and porn-king ‘taches.The only trouble being that Sotiris is a closet romantic and Yorgos couldn’t pull in a belfry.The plot is par for the farce course, with much bed-hopping, lying, language difficulties, and dodgy disco dancing as Moira and sadie get mixed up with the . . . Cypriots. Where the production really shines is the quick-fire banter between the four characters. The good old double-entendre really comes into it’s own, which is appropriate for the 70’s ambience. Ruddy’s own production for her Rubber Ear productions is a fantastic show and just the thing to get you in a holiday mood. Forget that spiritual journey with Kula Shaker tours, book the package deal to Cyprus today.---Peter Ross-THE LIST Magazine
