Celebrating 20 years of Dirty Dusting, the stage sensation born in South Shields which conquered the world

The comedy play written by South Shields-based Ed Waugh and Newcastle-based Trevor Wood is about three pensioner cleaners who are made redundant from work and, in their last weekend, set up a telephone sex line.

With no let up in its performance schedule in sight, the show has professionally toured Britain on at least 12 occasions, Ireland on half a dozen while Australia and New Zealand boast five national tours each.

Dirty Dusting is also on the amateur circuit and it has been performed with nearly 100 different casts throughout the UK, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia and even making a bow in Spain and Canada.

Trevor explained: "There's not a week goes by that we don't have an enquiry via our website. Just before Christmas we got three emails in one day, and in the past fortnight we've had requests for the script from New Zealand and Nova Scotia, America.

"Remember, this is with no support whatsoever from the national media in 20 years. It's all word of mouth. Incredible."

Ed added: "We think around 300,000 people have seen the show and, from what we can gather, the vast majority appear to have enjoyed it. Facebook pages and social media are full of people singing its praises."

"Obviously it's very funny and entertaining," said Trevor. "That's why it's still much in demand. People need a good laugh, especially today, but the themes we explored back then - ageism, precarious employment and sex relating to older people - all have resonance today."

"We wrote it when we were both 44 and 20 year later all of the aspects apply to us today! We're not quite doddering oldies but we're getting there," said Ed, who has fought and overcome bowel cancer for the past 18 months.

He added: "What we love is the fact that women of all ages are coming to the show and enjoying it. Sometimes we see three generations having a belly laugh. That's what it's all about."

Trevor, who has since gone on to write an award-winning series of crime thrillers, including The Man on the Street, still believes that nothing can match the sheer delight of sitting amongst a live theatre audience and hearing them laugh at lines he and Ed wrote in their spare bedrooms!

"When that first laugh comes in, it’s a combination of joy and relief that you can’t possibly get in any other medium.

"I know that people like my books but I’ll never actually be sitting next to them when they’re reading them. And they probably never explode with delight at the time!"

Of the original cast of Helen Russell, Jean Doran and Gwen Doran, Gwen sadly passed last year, and the Dirty Dusting world was rocked in December by the death of Joan Sydney, the last of the Australian trio who toured that country in 2010.

"Joan, her sister Maggie King and Annie Phelan would send me postcards and the reviews from all the places they performed in Australia. They had a ball and I'll treasure the mementos," said Ed.

The Independent carried a tribute from Joan's friend, the actress Sally-Anne Upton, who touchingly said: "I am relieved for you, that you are now released and with your sister Maggie and darling friend Annie in spirit again, up their together ‘Dirty Dusting’."

"I was very emotional when I read that," said Ed. "Sadly, the main cast is played by older women and we've sadly lost some gems on the way but the likes of Jean, Helen and Twink, the Irish superstar who starred in the show for a month at the 1200-seat Gaiety Theatre in Dublin in 2006, are still going strong and we keep in touch.

"Talking of superstars," he added. "Our very own Geordie dynamic, mighty atom Leah Bell has had the British professional rights to the show for the past decade, and 2023 will mark the tenth UK tour Leah has undertaken. She's tremendous. Her show includes the hilarious Crissy Rock in the cast."

Another south of Ireland tour will happen in 2023.

Ed and Trevor remain close friends and while they never formally ended their writing relationship, Trevor has branched out, writing award-winning crime novels, the latest will be published in March, while Ed has continued writing solo plays which deal with local historical, forgotten superstars.

Hadaway Harry, Wor Bella, The Great Joe Wilson, Mr Corvan's Music Hall and Carrying David are examples of his hit plays from the past seven years, which have been performed locally at the likes of the Theatre Royal, Sage Gateshead, Tyne Theatre and Playhouse Whitley Bay as well as in Ireland and London.

Ed's book of Geordie Plays (Volume One) is available on line, and from The Word in South Shields and Newcastle City Library. His book of the script of Wor Bella is being used as an educational tool in schools in Northumberland, Newcastle and South Tyneside to highlight the heroic work of WW1 munitionettes who found time to play football in their spare time.

Trevor added: "We always felt Dirty Dusting would be a success. It was a joy writing it but neither Ed nor I envisaged we'd still be talking about it like this 20 years later."