Brandon Thomas’s Charley’s Aunt comes to Stantonbury Campus Theatre on May 25 for one performance.
The original production opened in 1892, ran for four years, breaking all historic records for plays of any kind, with an original London run of 1,466 performances.
It is 1892 and dashing Oxford undergraduates, Jack and Charley are preparing to propose to Amy and Kitty, two lovely young girls, but a chaperone is needed or the girls will refuse their lunch invitation.
As luck would have it……….whew…… Charley’s Aunt is arriving from Brazil (where the nuts come from!) and will happily serve the purpose. However, a telegram declares that her trip is delayed so their plans are in disarray!
What ensues is a superbly constructed comedy with the brilliant central conceit, in which a fatuous Oxford undergraduate, Lord Fancourt Babberley, is bullied into dressing up as the elderly aunt in order to provide his friends with a vital chaperone.
Charley’s real aunt from Brazil (where the nuts come from!) finally arrives to be pursued by Colonel Sir Francis Chesney, Jack’s flabbergasted father.
As you may imagine, all is well in the end after a breathtaking chase, a musical interlude and an absurd number of marital engagements.
Creative Cow, the company who brought you The Rivals last year, will take on this hilarious farce and wrestle it to the floor in a flurry of Victorian vim and verve.
For tickets and more information call the box office 01908 324422 or go online www.stantonbury.org.uk