An old actor dreams of success.

Frank Dudley is determined to revive his not-so-glittering career. In a bedsit in North London the unreconstructed veteran thespian is working on a one man show offering gems from the greats…Shakespeare, Chekhov, a little Coward.

Seemingly past his prime, Frank hopes that his appearance at Barnstaple’s Fringe TheatreFest will boost his fortunes and repair a self-belief long withered by his failure to be noticed.

‘I’ve never played Shakespeare,’ says Frank, who will be returning to Barnstaple to give audiences a glimpse of what might have been, had fate been kinder.

In Frankly Speaking... he takes on Shakespeare for the very first time and offers a poignant glimpse into a disappearing theatrical legacy; a career littered with bit-parts, walk-ons, a disastrous season in panto and an intimate knowledge of theatre digs throughout the land.

Frankly Speaking... is a production by the West Yorkshire-based SRM Theatre Company and is, just possibly, a sequel to Swansong-slightly out of tune, seen at the Baptist Hall last year. Frank Dudley is once more played by Mike Casey, who is returning to Barnstaple for the sixth time.

Will Frank lose his way among his memories? Will his ambition to play Richard II be realised at last? Is this indeed his swan song? Get your tickets for the gallery@QT to discover if he has succeeded in his aim of showing Sir Ian McKellen that he’s not the only ageing thesp who can play Hamlet at 80.

Mike was a drama lecturer at Bretton Hall College for thirty happy years, specialising in Shakespeare and Commedia dell’Arte. On retirement he took up acting again, joining SRM Theatre. He was a founder member of Plain Quakers Theatre, frequent visitors to Barnstaple, playing Morris in The Chocolate Paradox, and Willy Sykes in For Conscience Sake. For TheatreFest 2018 he created Frank Dudley in Swansong - not fade away. Last year he turned up again in Swansong: slightly out of tune. And this year Frank’s back!