A SAMUEL FRENCH, INC. TITLE

See How They Run

Full-Length Play, Comedy  /  3w, 6m

Philip King

The swift action, impossibly hilarious situations and rib-tickling plot in this long-running London hit will leave audiences exhausted with laughter.

  • Cast Size
    Cast Size
    3w, 6m
  • Duration
    Duration
    120 minutes (2 hours)
  • SubGenre
    Subgenre
    Farce
  • Suggested Use
    • Cutting Approved for Competition
  • Audience
    Target Audience
    Adult, Pre-Teen (Age 11 - 13), Teen (Age 14 - 18)

Details

Summary
The swift action, impossibly hilarious situations and rib-tickling plot in this long-running London hit will leave audiences exhausted with laughter. In an English vicarage, the vicar and his wife are overwhelmed by a barrage of colorful guests, including an American actress, an American G.I. stationed with the Air Force in England, a cockney maid who has seen too many American movies, an old dowager who “touches alcohol for the first time in her life,” a sedate Bishop aghast at all these goings-on, and four men in identical clergyman suits, one of whom is an escaped prisoner.
History
See How They Run premiered in the West End at the Comedy Theatre on January 4, 1945. Directed by Henry Kendall, the production featured Joan Hickson, Beryl Mason and George Gee. The play made its American premiere at Actors' Theatre in Plainfield, New Jersey, on May 11, 1949, in a production directed by Tom Taggart. In 1955, Winwell released a film adaptation of the play starring Ronald Shiner, Greta Gynt, James Hayter and Wilfrid Hyde-White.

IDA – A maid
MISS SKILLON
THE REVEREND LIONEL TOOP
PENELOPE TOOP – Reverend Toop's wife
CORPORAL CLIVE WINTON
THE INTRUDER
THE BISHOP OF LAX
THE REVEREND ARTHUR HUMPHREY
SERGEANT TOWERS

  • Time Period 1940s / WWII, 1930s
  • Setting The Hall at the Vicarage, Merton-Cum-Middlewick. 1940s.
  • Features Period Costumes
  • Duration 120 minutes (2 hours)
  • Cautions
    • Mild Adult Themes

Media

“[A] breathless show... fast tempo, plenty of laughs.” – Variety

“A positive riot... in all my fifty years in the theatre I've never heard such laughter.” – Bernard W. Suss, Elitch Gardens, Denver

Music

  • Musical Style N/A (Not a musical)
  • Vocal DemandsN/A (Not a musical)

Licensing & Materials

  • Minimum Fee: $130 per performance

Add-Ons

Take a look below at how you can enhance your show!

Authors

Author

Philip King

Community

Now Playing

Community Experiences

Related