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Run for Your Wife

Full-Length Play, Comedy  /  2w, 6m

Ray Cooney

This 1982 British comedy centers around John Smith, an "ordinary" London taxi driver who secretly has two wives in two different towns. When John inadvertently blows his own cover, the comic complications multiply.

Run for Your Wife

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  • Cast Size
    Cast Size
    2w, 6m
  • SubGenre
    Subgenre
    Farce

Details

Summary
This British farce thrilled audiences in its 1982 debut. A taxi driver gets away with having two wives in different areas of London because of his irregular working schedule. Complication is piled upon complication as the cabby tries to keep his double life from exploding. John Smith's comic adventures continue in the sequel, Caught in the Net.
History
Run For Your Wife was first produced at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guilford, on 26 October, 1982. Directed by Ray Cooney, the production featured Carol Hawkins, Helen Gill, Ray Cooney, Peter Blake, Royce Mills, Arthur Bostrum, Bill Pertwee and Jimmy Thompson. The play was subsequently produced by the Theatre of Comedy Company at the Shaftesbury Theatre, London in 1983 and at the Virginia Theatre in New York in 1989.

MARY SMITH – A short and attractive blonde in her late twenties.
BARBARA SMITH – a tall and attractive redhead in her mid-twenties.
JOHN SMITH – An ordinary looking man whose appearance belies his eccentricity.
DETECTIVE SERGEANT TROUGHTON – A slightly severe young officer.
STANLEY GARDNER – A bright fellow whose "brightness" is only skin deep.
NEWSPAPER REPORTER – A large gentleman.
DETECTIVE SERGEANT PORTERHOUSE – A middle-aged family man.
BOBBY FRANKLYN – A flamboyant dress designer of indeterminate age.

  • Time Period 1980s
  • Setting London. Mid-1980s.
  • Features Period Costumes

Media

“A laugh a minute!” – WABC Radio

“Run for Your Wife should run for life!” – Sunday Express

“A frolic? It is... a triumph.” – Daily Telegraph

“Virtually continuous laughter.” – The New York Post

“Audiences will enjoy the show tremendously.” – The New York Daily News

“I was exhausted from laughing so hard.” – WMCA Radio

Music

Song Samples

Ray Cooney's interview for Dave's Gone By

Licensing & Materials

  • Minimum Fee: £70 per performance plus VAT when applicable.

Scripts

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Authors

Ray Cooney

Ray Cooney

Ray Cooney began his theatrical career as a boy actor in Song of Norway at the Palace Theatre in 1946. He played in Dry Rot and Simple Spymen and then began a writing career which, to date, has sent 18 plays to the West End, including One for the Pot, Not Now Darling, Move Ov ...

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