Posted in: Comics, Comics Publishers, Current News, Doctor Strange, Marvel Comics, Pop Culture | Tagged: Bedfringe, kev f sutherland, Paula Vennells, Post Office Scandal, Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre

Post Office Scandal Musical Cancelled by Paula Vennells-Related School

A Post Office Scandal Musical at a comedy festival is cancelled by the school at which Paula Vennells used to be a governor.

Post Office Scandal The Musical is a new Scottish Falsetto Socks Puppet Theatre show from cartoonist/comedian Kev F Sutherland, currently touring ahead of the Edinburgh Fringe. With the cult-favourite satirical sock puppet characters that have appeared on TV and stage for over two decades, and due to appear at the Bedfringe comedy festival in Bedford, England in July. Or rather it was.

Bleeding Cool understands that the show at Bedfringe has been cancelled, despite having sold 75% of their tickets so far, will be replaced. Why? Because, Bedfringe, a pre-Edinburgh Fringe festival that has been running since 2007 in Bedford and is sponsored by the private boarding boys school. Indeed, The Quarry Theatre, which hosts Bedfringe, is owned and is part of the Bedford School, and representatives of the school have told Bedfringe that they simply cannot put on the Post Office Scandal play. And why? Well, this is the moment that tabloids will be salivating over, and I do hope they give Bleeding Cool and me the credit for this scoop.

Because one of the Bedford School's former governors is Paula Vennells. British businesswoman and Anglican priest, Vennells was the chief executive officer of Post Office Limited from 2012 to 2019, during part of the British Post Office scandal, in which more than 900 subpostmasters were fired, wrongly convicted, fined, and in some cases imprisoned between 1999 and 2015 of theft, false accounting and fraud because of apparent shortfalls at their branches due to flaws in the Horizon accounting software used by the Post Office. Vennells was appointed a CBE in 2019, an honour which was formally revoked in 2024. She has recently been giving evidence in a government enquiry, fuelled by the most important TV show this year, Alan Bates Vs The Post Office, where she was played by Lia Williams. In 2021, Paula Vennells stepped down as governor at Bedford School, after earlier media coverage of the scandal as it reached the courts. But she still seems to be a very sore spot for the school.

And so Bedfringe have pulled the show, planned for the 19th of July. People who bought tickets to the Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre show have been told about the change (which is how Bleeding Cool learned about the story and started digging). The printed programme, which is where the school first spotted the show, is being pulled and a new one printed in time for July, and the website has already been changed. The Bedford School told Bleeding Cool "the show has been replaced with another show by the same company, in order to respect widespread sensitivities at the current time."

Post Office Scandal The Musical will play at the Edinburgh Fringe, as well at other venues before and after. The one remaining scheduled performance is Ludlow Fringe on June 16th. Tickets are on sale here.  Just not at Bedfringe. Thankfully, the comedy act has a couple of decades worth of shows with the sockular pair to bring out from a bottom drawer… but for those who miss out, here is the show's introduction.

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