Ade Edmonson adapts a memoir for the stage

Adrian Edmondson is to star in a version of a bestselling memoir about middle age that he has adapted for the stage.

The former Young Ones star has written a script based on William Leith’s satirical book Bits Of Me Are Falling Apart.

It will receive its UK premiere in January at London’s Soho Theatre, whose artistic director Steve Marmion collaborated with Edmondson on the writing.

Edmondson, 58, said: ‘I first came across the book six years ago, and have been thinking of translating it to the stage ever since.

‘When I met Steve Marmion earlier this year, I found a collaborator who was as intrigued as I am. Working at Soho Theatre feels a bit like going home, it feels both comforting and exciting at the same time. It’s the comfort of familiarity, but the excitement of doing something left field.’

The one-man play begins with William, who wakes up one morning, middle aged and cranky. He’s alone, sleeping on a mattress in his office and about to visit his young child before his estranged partner takes him away on holiday for two weeks.

As he wonders where it all went wrong, William dissects the state of economy and capitalism, the death of love – and why our immune system can be compared to D-Day.

The book was originally published in 2008, and fellow author Jon Ronson described it as ‘a middle-aged Catcher in the Rye’.

Published: 12 Nov 2015