Written By
Brandon Thomas
Where and When
11th – 14th February 2004
The Plot
Charley and Jack love Amy and Kitty. Amy is about to go away, and Charley thinks he may miss his opportunity to ask for her hand. Then he discovers that his aunt, a Brazilian woman he hardly knows, is coming for lunch. How fortuitous! Now the aunt can chaperone while the boys ask the girls to marry them. Naturally, things don’t go as planned. Donna Lucia, the aunt, is late, and their friend, Lord Fancourt Babberley (Babbs) shows up in drag. He is convinced to pretend to be Donna Lucia, and a wild afternoon of mistaken identity, young love, old love, angry uncles, and one beautiful, exotic aunt ensues. In the end, just as it looks like Uncle Stephen is going to ruin everything, the real Donna Lucia steps in and graciously puts an end to the madness. All the lovers end up together and happy, except for Uncle Stephen, who was starting to fall for Babbs!
Cast
- Colonel Sir Francis Chesney – Dave Williams
- Stephen Spettigue – Jeremy Austin
- Jack Chesney – Paul Hewitt
- Charles Wykeham – Richard Neal
- Lord Fancourt Babberley – Tony Feltham*
- Brassett – Chris Brown
- Donna Lucia d’Alvadorez – Jan Singfield
- Kitty Verdun – Clare Downs
- Amy Spettigue – Helen Martland
- Ela Delahay – Vicki Ballard
- Dancing Girls – Carolyn Hewitt, Jackson Ellen and Boo Feltham
Curtain Call Awards 2004 – Best Actor in a Comedy
Creative Team
- Director – Stuart Glossop
- Set Designers – Jackson Ellen and Mark Ellen
- Wardrobe* – Carolyn Hewitt
- Properties – Caroline Uwins
- ASMs – Barry Baynton, Boo Feltham, Neil Thorton, Alfie Tyson-Brown and Mez Tyson-Brown
Fot the Tivoli Theatre
- Stage Manager – Ashley Thorne
- Technical Manager – Russell Parker
* Costumes by Eclectia Theatre Costumes
Gallery
Reviews
Linda Kirkman – Daily Echo
BRANDON Thomas may have had his only real success with this farce, but what a success it was, and the years have done nothing to diminish its appeal.
Written and set in the late nineteenth century, although here updated to the 1920s, it is a delightful romp from start to finish – and director Stuart Glossop’s highly original production hits its target with glorious abandon.
There are numerous innovative touches, from a plot-setting party scene prologue and narrator-style comments from an unusually verbose Brassett (an excellent Chris Brown) to the superb three-way set and entertaining scene changes complete with dancing girls.
Paul Hewitt and Richard Neal are believable, if a tad mature, as Oxford undergraduates Jack Chesney and Charles Wykeham, trying to arrange a luncheon for their lady friends Kitty (Clare Downs) and Amy (Helen Martland), while Vicky Ballard is a sweet, if slightly too fast-talking, Miss Delahay.
Dave Williams (Sir Francis Chesney), Jeremy Austin (Stephen Spettigue) and Jan Singfield (Donna Lucia) give impressive, marvellously detailed characterisations, but it is Tony Feltham as Lord Fancourt Babberley, pressed into cross-dressing service to prevent a social blunder, who brings the house down with a brilliantly timed, wonderfully expressive portrayal that is a pleasure to witness.
Programme
