Cast members of Up Pompeii! rehearse at the Medicine Hat Musical Theatre playhouse. (Photo Courtesy Bob Schneider)

By Chris Brown

Tongue-in-cheek jokes, innuendos turned way up in Up Pompeii!

Feb 9, 2023 | 2:20 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – The upcoming show from Medicine Hat Musical Theatre is taking director Kate Leeming back to her childhood and the audience back a lot further than that.

“I fell in love with British comedy when I was a kid. My father who is also in the show got me into all things British comedy so I was raised on Up Pompeii! I was raised on Fawlty Towers, Monty Python, Dad’s Army, that kind of stuff,” Leeming explains. “So when I found this as a stage play I got very, very excited. I also really liked the simplicity of it. The story is quite simple the sets were simple it’s just been… it’s hilarious.”

Leeming says Up Pompeii! is set in ancient Rome and sees head slave Lurcio trying to start a show and being continually interrupted by a slew of creative and strange characters.

She says it’s a lighthearted and silly show filled with sexual innuendoes and risque, tongue-in-cheek jokes, so may not be suitable for those under 13 years old

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Leeming has been involved in theatre in the community for years but this is her first time directing for Medicine Hat Musical Theatre. She says it’s been a while since this type of British farce play has been put on by MHMT and is grateful to be given the chance to direct a non-musical.

She’s worked with her father several times before but says as director this is one of the first times she’s gotten to boss him around in public, an experience she calls “joyous.”

Her dad Peter describes his role as the rather dumb assistant to the slave master.

He’s enjoying being back on stage with “a real nice group of people” and is taking being bossed around by his daughter in stride.

“Well I tried to do it to her for 40 years and it didn’t work now she’s trying it on me,” he laughs.

Up Pompeii! opens on Feb. 18 for the first of nine shows. For more information and to buy tickets visit mhmtheatre.com.