The Man Who Came To Dinner

A Comedy by Moss Hart & George S. Kaufman

Directed by Helen Thorpe

“I smell a rat, a rat with a beard!”

What do you get when you mix a grumpy, lying, egocentric radio personality (possessed of a tongue dipped in venom and a broken leg) with a wealthy, conservative middle class family, newly-paroled homicidal convicts, hasty romantic liaisons, jealous ambitions, a smattering of Hollywood film stars, a sarcophagus, an axe murderer and even… penguins? Chaos, that’s what you get!

It’s Christmas time in early 1940’s America, and  famed author/critic Sheridan Whiteside accidentally breaks his leg whilst on a lecture tour in Ohio. As a result he’s stuck in the home of wealthy industrialist Ernest W. Stanley & family, forced to do his much-loved annual radio Christmas message to America in a local hick town rather than the glittering city of New York – and boy, is he not happy about it! And so the riotous shenanigans begin…

Whiteside proceeds to plunge the whole household into siege-like chaos, ruling as a tyrannical Czar, meddling in everyone’s lives and running roughshod over nearly all that he comes across, with hilarious results.

A cross between Arsenic & Old Lace and The 39 Steps, Hart and Kaufman’s fiendish frolic of a farce was made into the highly successful 1943 Oscar Nominated Bette Davis and Monty Woolley film and is a veritable feast of wit and sophistication.

Cast:

Sheridan (Sherry) Whiteside: James Klech
Maggie Cutler: Bridget Collins
Jo (aka Bert) Jefferson: James Marshall
Mr. Ernest Stanley: Peter Emmanuel
Mrs. Daisy Stanley: Caroline Fenton
Lorraine Sheldon: Natalie Eacerall
Dana (aka Richard) Stanley/Radio Technician/Convict: Kate Marshall
June Stanley/Sandy: Amelia Zimmatore
Miss Preen: Emmie Rhodes
Harriet Stanley: Helen Cheales
John (the Butler): Ralph Miller
Sarah (John’s wife & talented cook): Carol Smith
Dr. Bradley: David Adams
Professor Metz/Westcott Head Radio Technician/Detective: Emma Harrison
Beverly Carlton: Caroline Fenton
Banjo/Irascible Expressman/convict: Nick Smith
Mrs. Dexter: Emma Harrison
Mrs. McCutcheon: Helen Cheales
John Ryan convict/Radio man/Detective/Mr Baker Prison Guard/Porter: Marc Evans
Maid/Radio Technician/Convict: Lauren Cooper

Performances:

Tuesday 15th Oct – Saturday 19th Oct 7.30pm
Matinées on Weds 16th Oct & 19th Oct Sat 2.30pm

This amateur production is presented by arrangement with Josef Weinberger Ltd

Tags: dinner