A QUARRY Bank writer and director’s comedy sketch which became an internet sensation is being turned into a stage show.

David Tristram’s popular spoof video Doreen’s Story - about fictional out-of-work Black Country mum Doreen who suffers from 'lazy cow syndrome’ - went viral on YouTube last year.

Its popularity has already sparked talk of developing the concept into a fully-fledged TV series - but in the meantime plans are afoot to take Doreen on a tour of Midlands theatres in October.

Actress Gill Jordan, from Walsall, will reprise her role as broad Black Country accented benefits cheat Doreen for An Audience With Doreen which playwright and film-maker David is promising will be “a riotous concoction of affectionate Black Country humour and biting social satire”.

He said: “There’s been interest in a TV format but these things take forever so in the meantime we thought it would be rather nice to do a stage version and keep the character ticking along and my background is theatre.

“It’s not just Doreen, there’ll be five actors playing other parts and there’ll be some video projection too.”

The original Doreen’s Story video was a mockumentary style short flick which saw the Black Country character bemoaning her lot in life, telling how she had been forced to claim thousands in state benefits since being diagnosed with ‘lazy cow syndrome’, the only treatment for which is heroin, ecstacy and “a bit of crack at the weekends”.

The spoof film, which David and Gill came up with while working together on a corporate video, notched up more than a million hits on YouTube and attracted news coverage from around the world.

It even caught the eye of TV executives in the UK and abroad who have been in talks about turning Doreen into a small screen star.

And David, aged 55, who grew up in Quarry Bank before moving to Bridgnorth, has already produced a pilot episode centred around the controversial character.

An Audience With Doreen will run at Dudley’s Evolve Theatre (at Dudley College) on October 12 and at Thorns Community College, Quarry Bank, on October 25.

A host of dates at other theatres across the Midlands area have also been lined up.

For tickets, more details and a sneak preview of actress Gill Jordan getting in shape for the show visit www.doreen.tv