Elvis will be back in the building – in a manner of speaking – for a theatre piece centring around the King’s 1968 TV comeback special.

Using the on-screen spectacular as a starting point, Texan artist Greg Wohead will act as Elvis Presley stand-in, floor manager, and paranormal medium to explore themes of gender, culture and sexual identity in his show, Comeback Special, at Shoreditch Town Hall.

When Wohead watched the original 1968 Comeback Special, he was struck by its potency and ridiculousness.

It made him interested in the idea of the comeback and the attempt to come back as the best version of oneself.

“This show isn’t exactly about Elvis, so there’s no need for the audience to arrive with any knowledge of him or the original 1968 Comeback Special, but if you are an Elvis fan it might give you a different and interesting perspective,” Wohead says.

“The more I worked on Comeback Special, the more it grew into something deeply personal. While trying to accomplish what seemed like a straightforward task of a re-enactment, I found I couldn’t detach my similarities and differences to the image of Elvis, and my own experience of a self-identity in flux.”

From Elvis to existentialism, Wohead will invite the audience to ponder the question: ‘How does this modern-day show acknowledge the past and look towards the future?’

Comeback Special runs from Tuesday until Saturday at 7.30pm at Shoreditch Town Hall in Old Street. Tickets £15. shoreditchtownhall.com.