Taunton Thespians

Alan Ayckbourn’s version of the first of the famous Aldwych farces was produced by the National Theatre. It is the story of an unsuccessful inventor who inherits the life interest in a fortune which is to revert on his death to his cousin George Maitland. As Cousin George is thought to have died abroad, the inventor has the brilliant idea of “dying” so that he can resurrect himself as his cousin and avoid paying his enormous debts. Complications arise in the form of George’s wife, another Maitland imposter (the butler’s brother) and finally the real George Maitland himself!

Add a scheming butler, lugubrious gardener, smarmy solicitor, fainting female and ironic aunt, and you have a cocktail of comedy that would defeat Prohibition. This wickedly funny and physical play is full of Roaring Twenties spirit, pace and dash, with wisecracking dialogue, mistaken identities, polish and pizazz.

Think Wooster, think flappers, think spats – think it’s been done? Think again...