People are being encouraged to spend an evening tucked up in a massive bed with seven eccentric old folks and a disembodied head.


Jim Cartwright’s extraordinary play, Bed, is set to take over the Brockley Jack Studio Theatre between September 11 and September 29.


Its cast, who have a collective age of over 400, prove you are never too old to dream – or disco dance on the bed.


Cecily Boys, director of the Old Bomb Theatre Company production, described the show as a cross between Jerusalem and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.


She told Vibe: “When it was at The National Theatre in 1989, they had a 30ft wide bed – we don’t have the resources of The National but our bed is pretty damn big.


“Pretty much the whole play takes place on the bed, it’s the whole stage.


“The characters are remembering their dreams and their past.


“Some are beautiful and still, some joyful and another is a storm where they thrown each other all over the bed.”


The oldest actor in the play is 72-years-old, and the youngest (who plays a disembodied head on a shelf) is 21.


Cecily added: “The play is really surreal and dreamlike and a lot of fun, but also asking questions about a forgotten England and whether that stiff upper lip attitude still exists.


“We have had such a pertinent year for asking questions about British pride, with the Olympics and people wandering around saying ‘go Team GB’.


“Just a year ago we had the riots and it’s interesting how we haven’t had the same social upheaval as they have in America.


“The riots shocked a lot of people – they were thinking ‘we don’t do that, that’s not us.’


“British reserve is still there.”


Cartwright’s play about sleep, insomnia and growing old not only looks at our stiff upper lip, but also highlights our unique sense of humour.


Cecily, 32, continued: “One of the things I absolutely love is the cast.


“So often on the fringe you have a cast of young actors but this is a cast full of much older people and they are so joyful.


“These guys are naughty, funny and really physical, jumping up, singing and disco dancing.


“It’s just as surreal as Danny Boyle’s Queen jumping out of a God damn plane.


“That’s the one thing you can say about Britishness – our sense of humour is so key to us.”


The passionate director has been working in theatre for six years.


And this is one of her favourite plays yet.


She told us: “Come to have your dreams explored and exploded – that’s what you should come to the play for.


“The characters the actors are playing are beyond years, they are timeless.”


Tickets to the show cost £13 and £10 for concessions.


For bookings call 0844 847 2454 or visit brockleyjack.co.uk