In 1988, two Birmingham school friends tentatively come out to one another: Edward as gay; Peter, even more daringly, as an ABBA fan.
Nearly thirty years later, they meet again – and take a chance by forming the world’s first ABBA tribute band in drag. It’s a riot of platform boots and dodgy beards, ‘Waterloos’ and ‘Chiquititas’, and they couldn’t escape if they wanted to. But can Edward and Peter’s friendship survive the tribulations of a life on the road?
Ian Hallard’s The Way Old Friends Do is a tender, laugh-out-loud comedy about devotion, desire and dancing queens. It premiered at Birmingham Rep in 2023, directed by Mark Gatiss, before touring the UK, including a run at Park Theatre, London.
The play offers every theatre company and drama group all the ingredients to give their audience the time of its life.
‘Camp, funny and jolly good fun’
— Sunday Times
‘A super-trouper of a show that reminds us all of the part music can play in our lives and our friendships… Hallard’s script is keen-edged and perceptive, rapidly creating characters and imbuing them with life views that make the audience both laugh and feel a tinge of sadness’
— WhatsOnStage
‘Hilariously funny… a positive joy to watch from start to finish… bang on the Money, Money, Money’
— Reviews Hub
‘Side-splittingly funny… the easy comedy of the first act gives way to a dramatic series of genuinely surprising twists in the second ahead of a touchingly sentimental conclusion… a genuine love letter to ABBA with plenty for the die-hard enthusiasts to enjoy, but when all is said and done it is ultimately a story about enduring friendship’
— Broadway World
‘A gorgeously realised super trouper of a play that’s well worth taking a chance on’
— West End Best Friend
‘A fun, frothy comedy with heart-stopping moments… incorrigibly entertaining… [Hallard is] a comic writer who brings big dollops of warmth to his work, and abounding joyfulness too. A must-see for Abba fans; fun and laughs for the rest of us’
— Guardian
‘Hilarious… you don’t have to be an ABBA aficionado to enjoy it’
— British Theatre Guide
