New Abba comedy play The Way Old Friends Do is making tracks for Sheffield

The Way Old Friends Do, written by Ian Hallard and directed by Mark Gatiss (Sherlock, Doctor Who) is about two school friends coming out to one another: one as gay, the other as an ABBA fan. Nearly 30 years later they decide to form the world’s first Abba tribute band. Can their friendship survive the tribulations of a life on the road which includes platform boots, fake beards and a distractingly attractive stranger?

Ahead of the run at Sheffield’s Lyceum Theatre from March 7 to 11, Ian and Mark shared how the show came about.

Ian, who wrote the play, said: “My mother was pregnant with me when Abba won Eurovision in 1974. it’s been a lifetime of devotion for me. The background setting is autobiographical. It's about a gay, middle-aged man from Birmingham who is a massive Abba fan. So that much is very much based on real life. But the actual events of the play are entirely fictitious.”

Cast as Peter in the play, Ian said of his character: “He's a big Abba fan, obviously. He got into them through his mum, who died when he was only a child. So he was brought up by his grandmother, which mirrors the real life of Frida from Abba. Then a chance meeting via a gay dating app means he ends up running into the kid he was great friends with at school whom he’d lost touch with. And that sets the whole crazy series of events in motion.

“It's a backstage play, very much in the vein of The Full Monty or Stepping Out: a bunch of plucky amateurs deciding to put on a show. It's about those characters and their relationships. Although Abba is very much the setting, and it's part of the show, it's not a play about Abba it's a play about being an Abba fan."

Mark, who is one quarter of the comedy troupe The League of Gentlemen, has been an ardent Abba fan throughout his life. He said: “They’ve had different phases of their existence which people can hop on at: Eurovision, the Abba Gold revival, Mamma Mia and now Voyage! But they’re loved because they're just so good. Quality will out. They have just an astonishing range of hits and styles and genres. They're both gloomy Swedes and insanely infectious disco-mongers.”

This is the first time that Ian and Mark, who got married 15 years ago, have worked together as writer and director. Mark said: “A lot of couples never work together because they'd rather leave it at the door, but so far, so good! Ian commented: “Look at Abba. Romantic relationships kick-started the band, although admittedly it did all go awry subsequently. " Mark added: “ Yes, we’d better not follow Abba down that line!” to which Ian replied: “Ah well, if we do, we’ll just end up getting back together in forty years’ time.”

The cast of The Way Old Friends Do includes Donna Berlin (Doctors), James Bradshaw (Endeavour), Sara Crowe (Olivier Award winner for Private Lives), Andrew Horton (Jupiter’s Legacy) and Rose Shalloo (Malory Towers).

Tickets from £15, go to www.sheffieldtheatres.co.uk