This fifteenth article discusses a unique adaptation of the adventures of Dan Dare, Pilot of the Future.
Stephen Winders, an expert on British comics history, tells us about a “Dan Dare” theatrical play that was performed many years ago in London and is now almost forgotten.
We thank the author of this article for introducing us to the existence of this unique and fascinating version of our hero’s adventures, but also to the story of the artists and their extraordinary theater who brought it to the stage.
We wish you all happy reading, and see you next Monday with a new article.
Mario Benenati and Daniele Tomasi, editors of the DAN DARE SPECIAL PROJECT
Note: this Special Project, like all others on this digital magazine, is non-profit and just for informative purposes, as the images used which are © of the rights holders.
The Italian association FUMETTOMANIA FACTORY – APS, which has been operating nationwide since 1991—while never neglecting the activities carried out within its headquarters in Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto (Messina, Sicily)—has the aim of promoting, disseminating, and enhancing themes related to the language of comics.
Fumettomania’s mission is to attract young people of all ages by promoting projects dedicated to them, addressing current and engaging topics, using comics, which emerge as an autonomous art form that embodies the linguistic code of literature (words), its modes of consumption, but also the sequentiality of cinema and the figurative focus of traditional visual arts.
The Association’s commitment—35 years after its foundation (on May 14, 2026)—is to continue spreading comics culture and to continue its cultural and social projects in the area with workshops for young enthusiasts and schools, solo and group exhibitions dedicated to comics, illustration, and related fields, comic book presentations, and meetings with authors.
DAN DARE ON STAGE
– by Stephen Winders –
It is thanks to an online digital archive posted by the theatre in 2016 and its discovery by the EAGLE enthusiast Jeremy Briggs, who subsequently wrote an excellent article for Spaceship Away in 2017, that we have heard of the play Dan Dare: A Space Adventure, which was performed at the Half Moon Theatre in Whitechapel from 11th – 29th July 1972.
As the play was staged during Dan Dare’s ‘wilderness years’, two years after his adventures in Lion had ended and almost five years before he returned in a new incarnation in 2000 A.D. and in the gap between the ‘Dan Dare Club’ run by Andrew Skilleter and Eric Mackenzie as young readers of EAGLE and the emergence of organised adult ‘Dan Dare’ fandom, it is perhaps not surprising that Jeremy’s discovery was news to us.
His article was informed by both the online archive and an interview he conducted with the play’s author, Michael Irving. I am writing this article because I recently discovered that a lot of EAGLE enthusiasts, including many EAGLE Society members are still unaware of this production and because the story of the establishing of the theatre itself is a remarkable one.
The Half Moon Theatre was founded earlier in 1972 by two young actors, Michael Irving and Maurice Colbourne and a theatre director, Guy Sprung. Irving and Colbourne were leasing and living in a former synagogue in Alie Street Whitechapel, each occupying a partitioned off balcony on either side of the main hall. They intended to use the hall as a large living room, but realised that it could make a versatile performance space. They brought Guy Sprung, who had recently worked as an assistant theatre director at the Schiller Theatre in Berlin, on board and began to create a theatre which could seat eighty and named it after an adjoining alley called Half Moon Passage.
According to Jeffrey Hooper, who became involved in the project early on, they had very little money and financed the conversion of the building by stripping lead from abandoned factories in the neighbourhood at night and selling it to a scrap metal dealer! They also salvaged doors, glass, wood and other materials from abandoned factories to convert the building. Indeed, Jeffrey was actually caught taking wood from a factory and fined £50!
The theatre gained some controversy with its very first production and actually risked being closed before it had even started.
The play was In the Jungle of the Cities by Bertolt Brecht, the German writer. This led two local journalists to ask the owners of the building, the Federation of Jewish Synagogues, what they felt about a German play being performed there. The Federation objected to the building they considered sacred being used as a theatre at all and drew the group’s attention to a clause in the lease which prevented them from using it for public performance.
The actors got round the problem by creating a private theatre club, which required audiences to pay a joining fee. The owners took no further action and, as the Half Moon became established, the club status was eventually dropped, enabling the theatre to gain a grant from the British Council.
Although the journalists had emphasised the fact that the play was by a German, Brecht was no supporter of Hitler and the Nazis, and had left Germany immediately after Hitler took power.
The Federation objected to any play being performed there.
Dan Dare: A Space Adventure was the theatre’s fourth production. It was written and directed by Michael Irving, who had been an EAGLE reader in his boyhood and a fan of the ‘Dan Dare’ strip.
He created a new story set in a spaceship and provided an immersive experience for the audience by converting the auditorium into a spaceship. The play commenced with an electric door created for the production at the entrance to the auditorium and powered by a washing machine motor, sliding shut. This was immediately followed by a countdown which culminated in a roar of engines echoing around the theatre, provided by quadrophonic speakers supplied and installed by a friend, Simon Jeffes, who also assisted with the composition and performing of music for the play.
Lighting effects in the dome overhead, which was a feature of the original synagogue, created an impression of stars passing by and Michael Irving recalled that the combined effects of the ‘take-off’ were so successful that members of the audience could be seen clutching the arms of their seats.
Although the story was not an adaptation of ‘Reign of the Robots’ it included several elements of that story, including an Electrobot and a Selectrobot and Dan’s Treen ally Sondar posing as the Mekon’s Lieutenant.
Dan Dare was played by Alex Leppard, who has subsequently had a long career in theatre and playing small roles in many TV productions. His only future role in a science fiction production was playing Dorfen in two episodes of the second series of the B.B.C.’s Tripods in 1985. He also appeared in the 2008 science fantasy horror film Chemical Wedding.
Digby was played by Terrence Dougherty, who appeared in several productions at the Half Moon in 1973 and was musical director for some, but did not pursue an acting career later.
Jeffrey Hooper, who was a member of the management committee and was actually a student and not a trained actor, played Hank Hogan because he was an American. He returned to America in 1974 where he worked in regional and community theatre as a writer.
Mary Sheen, who played the Mekon, has had a long career in the theatre and with small roles on television. She also appeared in the film The Long Good Friday (1980).
Maurice Colbourne played Sondar. Of all the cast he would go on to achieve the most fame, starring in the TV series Gangsters (1976 – 78) and Howard’s Way (1985 – 89) and playing significant roles in The Onedin Line, The Day of the Triffids (1981) and Doctor Who. In Doctor Who he played a mercenary called Lytton in two stories, ‘Resurrection of the Daleks’ in 1984, when he was an adversary of the Doctor and ‘Attack of the Cybermen’ in 1985, when Lytton became the Doctor’s ally. Sadly, he died of a heart attack in 1989.
Michael Irving himself played Sir Hugh, who was obviously a renamed Sir Hubert Guest. He appeared in several plays at the Half Moon in the early years and directed two plays there. He subsequently appeared in many theatre productions and television roles. He also appeared in the films Personal Services (1987) and Vroom! (1990). However, he was not married to the American actress Veronica Hamel as his Wikipedia entry wrongly claims, having confused him with an American actor of the same name. In 2016 he was delighted to be asked to become a Patron of the current Half Moon Theatre.
Unfortunately, there are no existing copies of the script for Dan Dare, so all the information about it comes from a poster, a cast list, black and white photographs, a review from The Guardian newspaper, short video recollections from cast members and Jeremy’s interview with Michael Irving. Fortunately, all of these sources are available on the ‘Stages of Half Moon’ digital archive, which can be accessed on https://www.stagesofhalfmoon.org.uk/productions/dan-dare/ including Jeremy’s article.
Mary Sheen recalled that as the Mekon, her anti-gravity boat was placed on top of a large beer barrel which was covered in a black material that matched the black material in the lower part of the set and thereby gave the impression that the boat was floating on air. The barrel was fitted with castors so that it could be moved and an operator hid inside it to move it. This was how Daleks were moved at that time by their operators on Doctor Who.
Mary admitted that she did not feel entirely safe perched on top of the barrel. She was cast as the Mekon because she was smaller and lighter than the male actors. She recalled that, at one point in the play, she was pulled off the ‘hover boat’ by Dan Dare and the children in the front row howled in horror, having suspended disbelief, despite the limitations of the costumes and makeup.
Both she and Jeffrey Hooper recalled that Maurice Colbourne, as Sondar, tried to make the cast laugh during performances by coming on stage eating green food, like pickles and cucumber. Mary was forced to overcome any temptation to laugh because she had to hold conversations with the computer which was a recorded voice and any delay in responding would create confusion.
The photographs show that the costumes were quite basic, but nevertheless effective. Maurice Colbourne wore green makeup and a green skullcap rather than a sculpted head as Sondar and Mary Steen wore a huge papier mache dome above her ears as the Mekon. The Selektrobot and Electrobot costumes were made from plastic sheeting and the photos of the Electrobot show that it was remarkably accurate. The costumes, props and the poster were created by Caroline Struthers, who subsequently married Michael Irving.
The Music was composed and recorded for the production by Rupert Hine and Simon Jeffes, both of whom would enjoy successful careers in Music.
Rupert Hine was a musician, composer and record producer, who would go on to produce albums for many leading performers, including Tina Turner, Howard Jones, The Thompson Twins and Chris De Burgh. He also produced Jon Pertwee’s novelty record ‘Who’s Doctor Who’ in 1972. He recorded eleven albums of his own, either under his own name or as a member of the group Quantum Jump. He was honoured with a Sound Fellowship Award by the Association of Professional Recording Services in 2011 and in 2017 became Chairman of the prestigious Ivor Novello Awards, which are presented for songwriting and composing. He died in 2020.
Simon Jeffes was a classically trained guitarist, composer and arranger. In 1972 he created and was the principal performer of the Penguin Café Orchestra, an avant-pop band which performed experimental music containing elements of folk music with a minimalist aesthetic, that survived until his death in 1997. He also assisted with the string arrangement on the Sex Pistols’ version of ‘My Way’.
By all accounts, the play was a success. In a review which suggested that the children in the audience would never have heard of a Treen and made a mock criticism of the Mekon being played by a girl, the Guardian’s Robin Denselow nevertheless admitted that the play was “very good” and reported that it was “packed with children”. This was confirmed by Michael Irving in his interview with Jeremy. Denselow’s review also mentioned “bangs and flashes from the set”, so it was clearly a lively production.
The play was officially sanctioned by the copyright holders I.P.C. Magazines. Michael Irvine gained their permission and told Jeremy that they were accommodating and helpful and may even have sent some comics for reference. He added that they didn’t offer any money! Today Dan Dare’s copyright holders would be requiring money from the theatre for the right to use the character, just as other copyright holders would charge for the right to use theirs.
The enthusiasm and imagination shown in Dan Dare: A Space Adventure was typical of the theatre’s commitment to its productions.
The Half Moon presented a wide range of plays, although it developed a reputation for political theatre and productions which had particular relevance to the local community. Prior to Dan Dare, the theatre had opened with the previously mentioned Brecht play, followed by a new play about Wat Tyler, the leader of the Peasants’ Revolt called Will Wat, If Not, What Will? and then a Greek Tragedy called Alkestis. Evidently Guy Spong favoured political works with a left wing bias, while Maurice Colbourne favoured classical plays.
Later productions in that first year were an outdoor comedy play based on ‘Punch and Judy’, called Punch Gorilla; Silver Tassie, an anti war play by Sean O’Casey and Sawdust Caesar, which was a political reworking of Aladdin.
Over the next few years, memorable productions included Female Transport, a political play staged in 1973, about the transportation of female convicts to Australia, in which the theatre was converted to the inside of a ship (not a spaceship).
1973 also brought Ripper!, a musical about the Jack the Ripper murders, another Brecht play, The Mother, and Fall in and Follow Me, a new play about a children’s school strike in 1911. This play included six local children in the cast and marked the first step towards youth theatre at the Half Moon.
1974 brought Henry IV, adapted from Shakespeare’s Henry IV Parts One and Two. This adaptation, which made significant use of puppets, explored the link between political success and ‘play acting’. For Henry IV the theatre was converted into a barn.
1974 also brought a short play called Spare a Copper, which was written in response to problems that some of the local young people had encountered with the Police. The play toured local community centres and schools to inform youngsters about ‘Stop and Search’ rules, their rights and how to conduct themselves when speaking to the Police.
This was a good example of the theatre’s efforts to serve the local community and the community reciprocated on several occasions. When the floor of the theatre caved in due to dry rot, a gang of local builders working on a nearby site arrived and removed the offending wood and repaired the floor without charge.
From the start, the theatre had made efforts to cater for children with Dan Dare being the first production aimed at them and then Fall in and Follow Me actually including children in the cast. 1975 brought the theatre’s first production written and performed by young people from the local area and led to the establishment of the Half Moon Youth Theatre. By this time, Maurice Colbourne and Michael Irving had both left.
After assisting the young people with their first production, Guy Sprung returned to his native Canada by the end of the year, but the theatre continued to present lively and imaginative adult theatre and to grow in popularity, under the direction of Pam Brighton and later, Rob Walker, with actors including Simon Callow, Denis Lawson, Frances de la Tour and Maggie Steed.
By the end of the decade, the theatre had become so successful that it moved location to a former Methodist Chapel in Mile End Road, near Stepney Green, which could seat two hundred in 1979.
Frances de la Tour, Denis Lawson and Maggie Steed also appeared in plays in the new venue and other notable actors who performed there included Josie Lawrence, Peter Capaldi, Daniel Day Lewis, Sian Phillips and all four of the Mc Gann brothers. The first production in the new venue was Hamlet, featuring Frances de la Tour as the first female ‘Hamlet’ since Sarah Bernhardt in 1899. A production of the musical Pal Joey, with Denis Lawson and Sian Phillips transferred to the West End.
Unfortunately, even the Mile End Road venue proved inadequate for the audiences it was attracting, and in 1985 a new theatre building was completed adjacent to the Chapel. The new building again had no fixed seating, allowing plays to be staged in many forms and the space to be used by the local community to exhibit work, perform and meet.
Sadly, the theatre closed in June 1990 as problems arose with both its financial management and its artistic programme. Its aim had always been to provide cheap theatre to encourage new audiences and when the Greater London Arts Association significantly reduced its grant to the theatre because it was being used to service debts from the construction, it was obliged to close.
However, the Half Moon Young People’s Theatre remained as a separate company and continues to this day with conspicuous success, performing in a theatre in White Horse Road Limehouse, which retains the ‘Half Moon’ name.
Although we all missed Dan Dare: A Space Adventure, I suspect we were in good company, for it is highly unlikely that I.P.C. informed Frank Hampson of the production!
From what I’ve read, I feel that we missed a show we would have enjoyed.
However, as Dan Dare enthusiasts it is pleasing to know that the production contributed to the success of the theatre, which went on to present many significant plays and to serve its disadvantaged local community so well. Most pleasing of all is the fact that it paved the way for a thriving Youth Theatre which continues to this day.
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I am grateful to Jeremy Briggs for his highly informative article about ‘Dan Dare: A Space Adventure’ and for sending me the full text of his interview with Michael Irving.
I am also grateful for the efforts of the creators of the Half Moon Theatre digital archives, without which ‘Dan Dare: A Space Adventure’ and many other plays and the extraordinary history of the theatre would have been forgotten.
All images © right holders
Dan Dare © Dan Dare Corporation – https://www.dandare.com/media
“The Dan Dare Corporation owns the global rights including Film, Television, Radio, Social Media, Publishing and Merchandising to the Eagle Comic and associated strips including Dan Dare – Pilot of the Future.”
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NOTE:
To access the index and links to all the articles in the SPECIAL PROJECT DAN DARE, visit this page with the introductory article:
Italian version: https://www.fumettomaniafactory.net/speciale-dan-dare-pilota-del-futuro/
English version: https://www.fumettomaniafactory.net/fumettomania-presents-dan-dare-pilot-of-the-future/
EXTRA
BIOGRAPHY: STEVE WINDERS
Born in Preston, Lancashire, Steve Winders has been a lifelong fan of Dan Dare and Eagle and of Doctor Who since its first episode. He has written many articles about Eagle, the various incarnations of Dan Dare and the fictional exploits of the ‘Harris Tweed Appreciation Society’ for Eagle Times and its predecessors and has reviewed new works about British comics for the online Down the Tubes website and Steve Holland’s Bear Alley blog.
He has also written articles about another interest, Robin Hood, for the online Adventures of Robin Hood Appreciation Society Magazine.
Other interests include the American West, which was inspired by the famous Eagle strip, Riders of the Range, Astronomy and soccer. He is a supporter of Preston North End. He taught for over 40 years, in Lancashire, Mid Glamorgan and Plymouth. He is married and has three children and six grandchildren.
