The 1812 Theatre Group in Helmsley will stage their first John Godber comedy when they perform Scary Bikers at the town's arts centre this week.

Scary Bikers had its first outing at the Wakefield Theatre Royal in March 2018 before moving to the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough in early April. A year later the play had a London run in the Trafalgar Theatre but only one amateur production – at Bromley Little Theatre - was possible before Covid struck in 2020. Post-Covid, the play has had plenty of outings as far afield as Stockton, Saddleworth, Angus and Amsterdam … yes, Amsterdam!

On the surface, redundant miner Don and former private school teacher Carol would seem to have little in common, but beneath the surface their former spouses are buried next to each other so it was only a matter of time before they bumped into each other. They could never have imagined how their lives would merge. An innocent coffee leads to a bike ride through the Yorkshire Dales, which in turn leads to a bike tour across Europe to Florence. All seems set for a budding romance, but their departure date is 23 June 2016 and Don and Carol are on the opposite sides of the Brexit fence.

“Don” will be played by John Lister and Kate Caute will play “Carol” and they also play their respective late spouses, “Jean” and “Rob.”

A spokesperson for Helmsley Arts Centre said: "The production has been very much a family event as John’s wife Joanne and Kate’s daughter Holly have done most of the directing. John, Kate and Holly last performed together for 1812 in Noel Coward’s “Blithe Spirit” in 2009 but they’ve had many credits to their names since then, not least in 1812’s excellent annual pantomimes and 1812’s superb production of “Jekyll and Hyde” last year.

2It would be easy to dismiss Scary Bikers as Godber’s Brexit play but it’s anything but. Primarily, it’s a wonderful love story … indeed the play explores three love stories as Don and Carol test their guilt about their budding romance in scenes with their late spouses. A rich vein of political comedy adds much spice to the fun; indeed, some of the lines about politicians behaving badly could have been written yesterday. There’s also some wonderful farce so, all in all, the comedy has all the ingredients for a great evening out at the theatre.

Scary Bikers”will be performed in the Helmsley Arts Centre at 7.30pm from 21 to 24 February and tickets (Adults £12 plus concessions) are available at the Arts Centre or online at

www.helmsleyarts.co.uk