Ay Up, Hitler!

The untold "true" story of what happened at the end of WWII.

After losing to the Allied Forces, Hitler and his Cronies manage to escape Germany, and go into hiding in the last place anyone would think to look... YORKSHIRE!

Swapping the Hugo Boss for tweed jackets & wellies, and adopting strong Northern Accents, Adolf and the Lads meet down the pub to plan their "epic" comeback, over pints of Lukewarm Lager.

Ay Up, Hitler! is a biting and hilarious satirical comedy, featuring one of histories most infamous dictators, like you've never seen him before, whilst also holding a mirror up to our current climate and exploring whether a man like Adolf could thrive in todays modern world.

Debuting in September 2021, with a sell out run at the Alma Tavern & Theatre in Bristol, 'Ay Up, Hitler!' has embarked on two small scale tours across the South of England, including performances at The Museum of Comedy in London, The Stage Door in Southampton, and a highly successful run at the 2022 Brighton Fringe.

What Critics Say

Audience Reactions

What's Next?

Taking advice from several critics and audience members, we want to bring this play to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and so we are planning to do just that, as we are fundraising to take Ay Up, Hitler! to the Fringe for 2023.

Why We Are Fundraising?

Our previous two tours were done purely on a profit share basis, meaning that whatever money we did make, went towards ensuring our Cast & Crew didn't starve...

Which is why we are asking for your help and financial support to help get the show back onto the stage.

For 2023, we want to make sure we do things right. We know that if things go well at the Edinburgh Fringe it can open up a lot of tours, not only for this production, but for Gamma Ray Theatre as a whole, allowing us the chance to produce more new writing and continue to provide opportunities and showcase the talent that Hampshire has to offer.

We have already entered into discussions with venues for next years Edinburgh Fringe, with plans to perform for the full run of the festival.

Your generous donations will go towards the following:

Travel

We are a Hampshire Based Company after all, and it's quite a walk to get from the South Coast all the way up North to Scotland after all.

Accommodation

Unfortunately, we have been unable to find any long lost Scottish relatives, with a large apartment/house/castle in their back garden that can house a group of theatre makers, and so donations will help towards ensuring we have a roof over our heads for our stay in Edinburgh.

Venue Hire

For some reason, those pesky Fringe Venues also need money to stay afloat, and we want to make sure we give our team and this show the best stage we can.

Marketing

What good's a show if nobody knows about it? Marketing costs will cover a range of Print & Digital Media campaigns to help spread the word and pull in the biggest crowds we can.

And most importantly....

Paying our Cast & Crew

We could not be more grateful for the continuous commitment, loyalty and dedication from our exceptional cast & crew, and we want to make sure their hard work does not go unrewarded. Your donations will go towards ensuring that we can pay them a fair and decent wage for their work on the show.

Meet the Team

David McCulloch (Playwright/Producer)

David is one of the co-founders of Gamma Ray Theatre and our Ay Up, Hitler! playwright and so is the man who can hold most of the blame for bringing this show into existence!

As a writer David has written for the acclaimed webseries From Mansfield with Love, and also offers professional script reading & feedback services on Fiverr.

David also appears onstage as Göring, and a few other surprise characters, in Ay Up, Hitler!

"McCulloch’s writing is hilarious, inventive and fast-paced" - SceneOne+

Hannah-Cait Harrison (Producer)

Hannah-Cait is a co-founder of Gamma Ray Theatre, whose initial spark for starting a theatre company came after meeting David at a playwright event and seeing him with a pint in hand at 11am!

Hannah-Cait is also an actor, stand up comic, spoken word poet, and DJ who performs under the moniker Echo the DJ. Amongst her many credits, her proudest on-screen moment comes from appearing on an episode of Bargain Hunt.

She also took on the role of seamstress, creating some of the more extravagant costumes for the show. 

Hannah-Cait may also make an appearance on stage in Ay Up, Hitler! but "you have to see it to believe it!" - SceneOne+

Gamma Ray Theatre

Gamma Ray Theatre was conceived in 2017 after the pair of us met at a writers event called 28 Plays Later in 2017. 

As creatives based in Hampshire, we were seeing that a lot of theatre in our local area was from productions that were bring cast & produced from out of London, which side-lined the array of talent that Hampshire had to offer.

With both of these factors in mind, Gamma Ray Theatre was created with a sole focus on producing new writing for the stage, and providing opportunities, both on & off stage, for creatives in and around the local area.

We hope that the success of Ay Up, Hitler! will allow us the chance to produce more shows and continue to showcase Hampshire-Based talent on stages across the country.

Chris Hawley (Director)

Chris is an Award Winning Director and founder of BlackBox Theatre Company, one of the South's leading professional touring theatre companies.

His previous directing credits include: Bouncers (2017 & 2022), Blithe Spirit (2021), Abigail's Party (2021) and he has also written & directed adaptations of Pygmalion (2022), The 39 Steps (2019), and an original WWI Comedy-Drama Bully Beef & Whizzbangs (2018)

Chris' support, advice, and mentorship to playwright David McCulloch, and Gamma Ray Theatre as a whole has bene invaluable, and if it weren't for him then this play would never have gotten off the ground!

"The actors are all choreographed to perfection by director Chris Hawley" - SNS Online

Peter McCrohon (Actor)

Hannah studied Production Arts at Salisbury Playhouse supported by Wiltshire College. She received a nomination for Young Person of the Year at the NRTF Award for her first professional credit as a Technical Stage Manager for Bouncers (2017) with BlackBox Theatre Company.

Other credits include Bully Beef and Whizbangs, The 39 Steps: A Live Radio Drama, Blithe Spirit, and Abigail's Party (BlackBox Theatre Company)

"The ending is particularly poignant and well-executed, with sound by Hannah Wood being equally impressive and most facilitative here." - The Theatre Reviewer

Peter McCrohon (Actor)

Peter has been working as an actor for over 20 years, performing across stage & screen in a wide variety of genres, and exhibits a strong skill set in improvisation and audience interaction, both key to this production.

Other credits include Sir Toby Belch in Twelfth Night, Bottom in A Midsummer Nights Dream (Rainbow Shakespeare), Mr Johnson/Coachman in Meeting Miss Austen (2TimeTheatre), Charles Condomine in Blithe Spirit (BlackBox Theatre Company), King Eric of Gigglewick in Jack & the Beanstalk, and The Fairy King in Cinderella (Kings Theatre, Portsmouth)

Peter stars as the man himself, Adolf 'Pamela' Hitler, in Ay Up, Hitler!

"Peter McCrohon stands out as the main man" - Everything Theatre

Marcus Churchill (Actor)

Marcus has been there from the start, part of the initial conversation that sparked the idea for the show in 2017, and has stuck by the production ever since...because we refuse to let him leave!

Other credits include Captain Hook in Peter Pan, George Page in Merry Wives of Windsor (Ovo Theatre), Neil Barrage in D!ck the Adult Panto (Guildford Fringe Theatre Company), Laurence in Abigail's Party, and Higgins in Pygmalion (BlackBox Theatre Company)

Marcus plays the role of Goebbels, along with some surprise characters, in Ay Up, Hitler!

"Gamely performed by an enthusiastic company, Marcus Churchill in particular [is] able to generate a fair measure of goodwill from the audience" - There Ought to be Clowns

Michael Goodwin-Grist (Actor)

Michael made his professional acting debut in Ay Up, Hitler! when he was brought on for the Research & Development in 2020, and both touring productions in the following two years.

He also recently appeared as Ralph, and a host of other characters, in Bouncers with BlackBox Theatre Company in Summer 2022 and is currently directing Afterlife for Southampton University Players

Michael plays the role of Himmler, along with some other surprise characters, in Ay Up, Hitler!

"Completing the line-up is Michael Goodwin-Grist, making a zinger of a professional debut. A continuously hilarious deadpan comic performer" - SceneOne+

Gia the Rehearsal Room Dog

Rescued from the streets of Romania from the charity A New Leash for Life, and adopted by Gamma Ray co-founders Hannah-Cai & David, Gia has taken on the key role of being the official rehearsal room dog for Gamma Ray Theatre

She has been on-hand to offer much-needed cuddles and face licks to the cast and crew, run around chasing people during breaks, and offering a key insight into the sociopolitical themes of Ay Up, Hitler!

Gia will be making her stage debut in Annie Jr at the Riverside Arts Centre in Feb 2023

Please Support Us

Over the past year we have managed to do well off our own backs, however we have now reached the stage where, in order for us to progress the production and the company to the next level, we need your help.

As a small independent theatre company, we rely on the much-needed support and generous donations from benefactors such as yourself. You will be helping to Keep Theatre Alive and allowing us to enhance our strategy of creating platforms for bold & exciting pieces of new writing, and providing opportunities for the array of talent in and around our Local Area.

Thank you for taking the time to read up about our project and we hope you will consider supporting us. It would be forever appreciated.

For more information about the show, you can head over to the Gamma Ray Theatre website, or contact us on GammaRayTheatre@outlook.com

Thank you

David McCulloch & Hannah-Cait Harrison

Gamma Ray Theatre