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“I didn't know Wodehouse wrote plays”


Our fourth production came about when I was reading a collection of Jeeves and Wooster stories. I had reached the end all too soon and started to read the introduction. I knew the basics of PG Wodehouse's life: the novels, the short stories and the journalism, but I was surprised to read the long list of plays and musicals that he had written, adapted and contributed to.

Since deciding to produce “The Play's The Thing” earlier in the year, we've heard these sentiments echoed on many occasions.

With the singular exception of “Carry On Jeeves”, Wodehouse's nineteen plays are rarely performed these days. He was a proflic writer for the stage, also contributing over 200 song lyrics, as well as making further contributions to over a score of musicals. He worked with such people as Irving Berlin, Ivor Novello, Jerome Kern, George Gershwin and Cole Porter. With Guy Bolt and Kern, he is recognised as one of the creators of the American Musical Comedy. genre

“The Play's The Thing” was first performed in 1926, in New York and ran for over 300 performances – and when it was revived two years later, it ran for a further 244 shows. The Play's The Thing is an adaptation of the Hungarian dramatist, Ferenc Molnár's 1926 play Jaték a Kastélyban (The Play in the Castle). Tom Stoppard later re-adapted the same play in 1984, entitled Rough Crossing.

It has been a pleasure to bring this play to the stage: once again, we've been fortunate to work with some of the best actors and designers in Oxfordshire to put on a production that is both entertaining and interesting. We hope you enjoy it.

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Mike Taylor
Producer