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Cooney's Caught in the Net Extends by Four Weeks

Ray Cooney's Caught in the Net, the sequel to his ever-popular farce Run for Your Wife, has extended its West End run by four weeks. The comedy, which opened at the Vaudeville Theatre on 29 August 2001 (following previews from 20 August), is now taking bookings up to 30 March 2002.

First staged in 1983, Run for Your Wife has become an enduring favourite around the world. It opened at the Shaftesbury Theatre in London with Richard Briers and Bernard Cribbins, and was Olivier-nominated for Best Play in the same year. The story centres on a London taxi driver, whose bout of concussion results in a whole host of mishaps.

The sequel, Caught in the Net, finds the bigamist taxi driver's deceptions beginning to catch up with him when his teenage son from one marriage happens to meet the teenage daughter from the other - leading to a mad effort to cover his tracks.

Originally premiered at Windsor's Theatre Royal last August under the name Run for Your Wife Again, Caught in the Net regularly stars comic stalwarts Eric Sykes and Russ Abbot, although the latter is temporarily replaced (while appearing in Christmas pantomime Dick Whittington at Stoke's Regent Theatre) by Robert Duncan, best known as windbag "Gus Hedges" from the BBC sitcom Drop the Dead Donkey. Abbot returns to the production from 19 January.

Also in the Caught in the Net cast are Robert Daws, Carol Hawkins, Helen Gill, William Harry and Beccy Armory. The comedy is written and directed by Cooney and designed by Douglas Heap, with lighting by Douglas Kurht. It is produced in the West End by Bill Kenwright.

Caught in the Net has been nominated for three 2001 Whatsonstage.com Awards - Best Supporting Actor (for Sykes), Best New Comedy and Best Director (for Cooney) - click here to vote.

- by Terri Paddock

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