Written By
Ray Cooney
Where and When
21st – 24th February 1996 @ The Tivoli Theatre, Wimborne
The Plot
A London cab driver, John Smith, literally has two lives, complete with two different wives, Mary and Barbara. Somehow, he manages to juggle them both without arousing suspicion. However, he gets caught up in a mugging, and wakes up in a hospital. He ends up with the wrong wife by his side, and is forced to deal with explaining things to both of his wives and the police all at once.
Cast
- Mary Smith – Rebecca Gunnell
- Barbara Smith – Karen Wyatt
- John Smith – Richard Neal
- Detective Sergeant Troughton – Jeremy Austin
- Stanley Gardner – Tony Feltham
- Newspaper Reporter – Eileen Dunnachie
- Detective Sergeant Porterhouse – Barry Baynton
- Bobby Franklin – Tony Willmett
Creative Team
- Director – Joe Brooks
- Stage Manager – Jenny Templer
- ASM – Chrissie Neal
- On The Book – Jan Stevenson
- Set Designer – Carolyn Hewitt
- Set Construction – Eddie Colton, Joe Brooks, Saliann Colton, Brian Curry, Philip Evans and The Company
- Light and Sound – Nick Watkins, Mark Lockyear and Ann Pond
- Make-up and Costumes – Margaret Pope
- Photography – Eddie Colton
- Transportation – Ken Lambert
Gallery
Review
Trouble and strife
There’s no doubt that Ray Cooney is one of the best exponents of farce and it’s difficult to perform one of his offerings and not make a success of it. And so it was sensible of this young and enthusiastic – if somewhat inexperienced – company to tackle what was likely to be a sure-fire success on the written word alone.
Richard Neal proved an excellent pivot as taxi driver John Smith who successfully manages to live a double life – with wives in Wimbledon and Streatham – thanks to a rigidly kept schedule which is blown apart when he’s hailed a have-a-go hero after foiling a mugging attempt.
Rebecca Gunnell and Karen Wyatt took a while to find their feet as his wives – Mary and Barbara respectively – but Rebecca in particular soon warmed to the hysteria of the occasion.
Tony Feltham also took a while to get under the skin of John’s best buddy Stanley Gardner but, together with Jeremy Austin (Det Sgt Troughton) and Barry Baynton (Det Sgt Porterhouse), soon developed the mayhem that was to come as John dug himself further into trouble as he tried to dig himself out of it.
There was a nice cameo performance, too, from newcomer Tony Wilmett as the limp wristed Bobby.
An interesting set designed by Carolyn Hewitt and built by the company, provided plenty of the obigatory doors for all the comings and goings.
Programme
