Urban Expansions presents

Once Upon A Time In Wigan

April - May 2005

Wigan Casino – the heart of Northern Soul. From 1973 to 1981 in the weekly all-nighters – 8 saturated hours of pure beauty, pure rhythm, pure soul – 60’s & 70’s masterpieces belted out in an old music hall mixed with the sweat, adrenalin, talcum powder and any other assistance the devoted northern soul dancer could summon up to keep him or her whirling round the floor for hours on end.

Once Upon A Time In Wigan is a loving celebration of what it was to actually be there. From the queue to get in, the charge up the stairs, record bar and the bogs. Through the feelings of four people the show takes us into the very core of that time like it was all only yesterday: a world of 3 channels on TV, Bruce and Anthea, Kevin Keegan and Noel Edmonds.

Bathed in wit and pathos but most of all in priceless northern classics, the show charts the birth of modern all-night rave and dance culture, the death of the old industries, the old certainties, and in the end the death of Wigan Casino itself.

"George Orwell meets Nick Hornby" The Observer.

"Martin's ear for the venacular is incredible, the acting is marvellous...this excellent four-hander remins a foot-tapping snapshot of a bygone era." Metro