Cast

Synopsis

One of the most successful farces to have appeared in London. It deals with a crazy, likeable gang of bookies who, in order to be near the racecourse, are staying at a country hotel run by a retired colonel and his wife and daughter. Secret rooms, sliding panels, mistaken identity and a little romance are some of the main ingredients of this racy and slick farce, which never lets up for a moment.

Directors Notes

The play was first performed in August 1954 at the Whitehall Theatre, London. It was one of many very successful plays written and performed in, by John Chapman. It was also one of the many Whitehall Farces of the 50s and 60s which graced the London West End with such fine farceurs as Brian Rix. The Whitehall farces followed another well known writer Ben Travers whose many plays in the 1920s – 30s were performed in London’s Aldwych Theatre. So from the early 20s to the late 60s a tradition of what was then called bedroom farces bloomed in the capital. Brian Rix (Sir) became, having started in 1943 in Harrogate with the White Rose Players, actor manager of the company that toured with Reluctant Heroes. He brought it to London in 1950 and after a four year run it was followed by Dry Rot. The plots of these farces were written to support the action (business). Action remains at the centre of the realisation of the text and its performance. It smacks of the theatricality of the 1950s, as do the language and idiom. It has very little depth and is written to amuse only – to put it into 2003 would lose that sense of style and theatrical truth of the Whitehall farce. For many members of BLT the journey back to the 50s will create a nostalgic evening

Hope you all enjoy it.