A Man About the House (play)

Last updated
A Man About the House
A Man About the House (programme).jpg
Written byJohn Perry
Date premiered15 October 1945
Place premiered Grand Theatre, Derby
Original languageEnglish
GenreDrama
Setting1908, outside Naples

A Man About the House is a play by the British writer John Perry, adapted from Francis Brett Young's 1942 novel of the same title about an Edwardian English spinster who inherits an Italian villa, and falls in love with and marries the butler who has secret designs on the estate that had once belonged to his family.

It premiered at the Grand Theatre, Derby on 15 October 1945 before transferring to the West End. It ran for 100 performances from 27 February to 25 May 1946 at the Piccadilly Theatre. The cast included Flora Robson, Basil Sydney and Ernest Thesiger. [1]

Related Research Articles

Savoy Theatre Theatre in London

The Savoy Theatre is a West End theatre in the Strand in the City of Westminster, London, England. The theatre opened on 10 October 1881 and was built by Richard D'Oyly Carte on the site of the old Savoy Palace as a showcase for the popular series of comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan, which became known as the Savoy operas as a result.

Arthur Wing Pinero British playwright and actor

Sir Arthur Wing Pinero was an English playwright and, early in his career, actor.

William Archer (critic) 19th/20th-century Scottish writer and critic

William Archer was a Scottish writer and theatre critic, based, for most of his career, in London. He was an early advocate of the plays of Henrik Ibsen, and was an early friend and supporter of Bernard Shaw.

St Jamess Theatre former theatre in City of Westminster, London, England

The St James's Theatre was in King Street, St James's, London. It opened in 1835 and was demolished in 1957. The theatre was conceived by and built for a popular singer, John Braham; it lost money and after three seasons he retired. A succession of managements over the next forty years also failed to make it a commercial success, and the St James's acquired a reputation as an unlucky theatre. It was not until 1879–1888, under the management of the actors John Hare and Madge and W. H. Kendal that the theatre began to prosper.

Una OConnor (actress) actress

Una O'Connor was an Irish-American actress who worked extensively in theatre before becoming a character actress in film and in television. She often portrayed comical wives, housekeepers and servants. In 2020, she was listed at number 19 on The Irish Times list of Ireland's greatest film actors.

William Mervyn British actor (1912-1976)

William Mervyn Pickwoad was an English actor best known for his portrayal of the bishop in the clerical comedy All Gas and Gaiters, the old gentleman in The Railway Children and Inspector Charles Rose in The Odd Man and its sequels.

Arts Theatre theatre in London, England

The Arts Theatre is a theatre in Great Newport Street, in Westminster, Central London.

George Alexander (actor) 19th/20th-century English actor

Sir George Alexander, born George Alexander Gibb Samson, was an English stage actor, theatre producer and theatre manager. After acting on stage as an amateur he turned professional in 1879 and, over the next eleven years, he gained experience with leading producers and actor-managers, including Tom Robertson, Henry Irving and Madge and W. H. Kendal.

<i>Oh, Boy!</i> (musical) 1917 musical in two acts, with music by Jerome Kern and book and lyrics by Guy Bolton and P. G. Wodehouse

Oh, Boy! is a musical in two acts, with music by Jerome Kern and book and lyrics by Guy Bolton and P. G. Wodehouse. The story concerns befuddled George, who elopes with Lou Ellen, the daughter of Judge Carter. He must win over her parents and his Quaker aunt. His dapper polo champion friend Jim is in love with madcap actress Jackie, but George must hide her while she extricates herself from a scrape with a bumbling constable whom she punched at a party raid.

St Martins Theatre theatre in London, England

St Martin's Theatre is a West End theatre which has staged the production of The Mousetrap since March 1974, making it the longest continuous run of any show in the world.

<i>The Beauty of Bath</i> musical

The Beauty of Bath is a musical comedy with a book by Seymour Hicks and Cosmo Hamilton, lyrics by C. H. Taylor and music by Herbert Haines; additional songs were provided by Jerome Kern, F. Clifford Harris (lyrics) and P. G. Wodehouse (lyrics). Based loosely on the play David Garrick, the story concerns a young woman from a noble family, who falls in love with an actor. She then meets a sailor who appears identical to the actor and mistakes him for the latter. Her father objects to a marriage with the actor, but when it turns out that she really loves the sailor, all objections fall away.

J. P. Wearing writer

John Peter Wearing is an Anglo-American theatre historian and professor, who has written numerous books and articles about nineteenth and twentieth-century drama and theatre, including The Shakespeare Diaries: A Fictional Autobiography, published in 2007. He has also written and edited well-received books on George Bernard Shaw, Arthur Wing Pinero, extensive reference series on the London theatre from 1890 to 1959, and theatrical biographies, among other subjects. As a professor of English literature, Wearing has specialised in Shakespeare and modern drama.

Samuel George Herbert Mason was a British film director, producer, stage actor, army officer, presenter of some revues, stage manager, stage director, choreographer, production manager and playwright. He was a recipient of the Military Cross the prestigious award for "gallantry during active operations against the enemy." He received the gallantry award for his part in the Battle of Guillemont where British troops defeated the Germans to take the German stronghold of Guillemont.

Hubert Willis British actor

Hubert Willis was a British actor best known for his recurring role as Doctor Watson in a series of silent Sherlock Holmes films co-starring with Eille Norwood.

Samuel Johnson (comedian) British actor

Samuel Johnson was an actor-manager and Shakespearean actor of the 19th century and a member of Henry Irving's Company at the Lyceum Theatre, for which he played the comedy roles.

The Mouthpiece is a 1930 crime play by the British writer Edgar Wallace. It was one of several theatrical failures written by Wallace following the enormous success of On the Spot, with a plot described as "flimsy".

Persons Unknown is a 1929 mystery play by the British writer Edgar Wallace. The plot revolves around the murder of a "person unknown" in a street by a mysterious blackmailer. It features the character of Sergeant Elk, a Scotland Yard detective who appeared in several of Wallace's novels.

M'Lady is a 1921 play by the British writer Edgar Wallace. It is a drama about a woman who tries to raise her daughter in high society, only for her husband to return from Broadmoor where he has been serving a sentence for killing a police officer. It was panned by theatre critics.

Double Dan is a 1927 comedy crime play by the British writer Edgar Wallace. It is inspired by the 1924 novel Double Dan by Wallace. The plot concerns high finance and a criminal who is a master of disguise.

Grand Theatre, Derby

The Grand Theatre, Derby was a theatre in Derby in the English Midlands. It was opened in 1886, designed in an Italian renaissance style by a Birmingham architect Oliver Essex. It originally had a capacity of 2,500. Shortly after opening the theatre suffered a major fire, in which two people were killed and the building substantially damaged. Rebuilt it became a successful venue for touring companies and pantomime. In 1950 the theatre was closed down and was later converted into a ballroom.

References

  1. Wearing p.223

Bibliography