Being Tommy Cooper

Full Length Play, Dramatic Comedy / 3m, 1f

Las Vegas 1954: Tommy Cooper faces the prospect of his first big failure. As personal and professional problems collide, he faces stark choices about the future.

Cast Size
3m, 1f
Duration
120 minutes (2 hours)
Subgenre
Biography
Accolades
Not Applicable
Target Audience
- Adult

Additional Info

Packed with classic lines and hilarious routines, Being Tommy Cooper is a celebration of Britain's favourite comedian and an exploration of his darker side.

The play also tells the story of three other people in Tommy's life. There's his dour Scottish manager Miff Ferrie, with whom Tommy is locked in what he calls "a hate-hate relationship". We meet Billy Glason, a onetime vaudeville act who has set himself the almost impossible task of selling Cooper a huge collection of jokes. And, finally, there is Mary Kay – the woman who Tommy fell in love with and came to rely on. There was only one woman she couldn't compete with: Tommy's wife. This excellent cast brings the Tommy Cooper legend vividly to life in this award-nominated production.

Keywords

Aging, Friendship, Illness/Health, Love, Memory, Failure

Considerations

Performing Groups

Community Theatre
Dinner Theatre
Professional Theatre
Senior Theatre
Large Stage
Blackbox / Second Stage /Fringe Groups

Cautions

Alcohol
Strong Language

License details

Minimum Fee: £55 per performance plus VAT when applicable.

Production

Details

Time Period: 1960s, 1950s
Duration: 120 minutes (2 hours)
Setting:
The main setting is a simple bedroom in a Las Vegas hotel circa 1954. Other scenes need to evoke the casino floor, a backstage office and a busy restaurant. Cosutmes are men's suits of the 1950s/60s for Billy and Miff black tie and Fez for Cooper and late 1960s clothes for Mary
Additional Features: Audience Participation/Interactive, Physical Comedy, Play w/ Music
Features / Contains: Period Costumes

Music

Chorus Size: N/A (Not a musical)

Casting

3m, 1f

Tommy Cooper's age in the play ranges from his early thirties to his late forties.

Miff Ferrie, Cooper's manager, was born in Edinburgh and is 10 years older than Tommy.

Billy Glason is a washed-up, 50-something Jewish Bostonian comic.

Mary Kay, Tommy's mistress, is seven years younger than him (her scenes are set in 1969 when she is 41).

See all +

Cast Attributes

Strong Role for Leading Man (Star Vehicle)

Resources

Available Services

Scripts

Being Tommy Cooper

Being Tommy Cooper