Charley's Aunt

Synopsis

Charley's rich Aunt, Dona Lucia, is visiting from Brazil (where the nuts come from!). The timing couldn't be better. Her presence as a chaperone will allow him and his friend Jack to invite their respective true loves, Amy and Kitty, for luncheon to ask for their hands in marriage. Time is ticking, Amy is soon to leave for Scotland, but where is Charley's Aunt? On learning she is delayed by several days, scuppering their romantic plans, they blackmail their eccentric friend, Lord Fancourt Babberley, to pose as Dona Lucia. Chaos ensue as the imposter Aunt is courted by Jack's father and Amy's guardian. And then Charlie's real Aunt arrives...

Our Review:

2 October 2012

With Union Jacks still billowing around the country, the Menier Chocolate Factory has exploited the current vogue for patriotism and revived Brandon Thomas' cross-dressing comedy. Charley's Aunt is perfectly, anachronistically English. Like a soggy cucumber sandwich.

A record-breaking box office smash in 1892, Thomas's farce shows two hard-up, loved-up Oxford undergraduates – dreaming sighers, perhaps – in a bit of a pickle. Having arranged a double-date under the chaperonage of a wealthy, widowed aunt, Jack Chesney and Charley Wykeham (Dominic Tighe and Benjamin Askew, with shades of a young Cameron/Johnson tag-team) receive a telegram announcing her delay.

Step forward Lord Fancourt Babberley, a fellow student preparing to play an old lady in a college production, who is promptly thrust into the role of Donna Lucia D'Alvadorez, Charley's Aunt.

Written as a star vehicle, Thomas's play largely depends on that central drag performance ...

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Latest User Review

Joe Spiteri - 21 October 2012:

I loved this and just what we needed--a good comedy come farce. As always I am sure another hit for the Menier and deserves a West End transfer. All the cast were SUPERB specially Horne but really they all did well and nice to see Jane Asher who is always the true professional....

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