Habeas Corpus (1998)
by Alan Bennett
Directed and Designed by Alan Buckman
Performances: Tue 20th – Sat 24th February 1998, Bell Theatre
Contents
Introduction
"Habeas Corpus was written in 1973. It was an attempt to write farce without the paraphernalia of farce - hiding places, multiple exits and umpteen doors. Trousers fall, it is true, but in an instantaneous way, as if by divine intervention.
I wrote it without any idea of how it could be staged, and rehearsals began with just four bentwood chairs. The big revolution occurred after two weeks' rehearsal, when the director, Ronald Eyre, decided we could manage with three....The bare stage specified in the stage directions is essential to the bare text. Reintroduce the stock-in-trade of farce (as the Broadway production tried to do) and the play doesn't work. There is just enough text to carry the performers on and off, provided they don't get anywhere except into the wings, then they will be left stranded halfway across the stage, with no line left to haul themselves off.
...HABEAS CORPUS is not what Geoffrey Grigson called 'weeded of impermanence' - a necessary condition, apparently, if a play or a poem is to outlast its time. Topical references are cut. Of course plays don't become timeless by weeding them of timely references, any more than plays become serious by weeding them of jokes. But the jokes in HABEAS CORPUS about the permissive society do date it, and some of the other jokes make me wince. Still, HABEAS CORPUS is a favourite of mine if only because it's one of the few times I've managed not to write a naturalistic play.......But it's not altogether farce. Death doesn't quite lay down his book..."
Alan Bennett "Writing Home"
The original production had what might be called a 'dream' cast, with Alec Guinness as Wicksteed and Margaret Courtenay as his wife; Phyllida Law was Connie, Patricia Hayes played Mrs Swabb, and Roddy Maude-Roxby was Canon Throbbing, Joan Sanderson (the bad-tempered, deaf lady in'Fawlty Towers'}played Lady Rumpers, and Andrew Sachs was Mr Shanks, Madeline Smith (remember her?)was Felicity, and John Bird took the part of Sir Percy Shorter. Quite a line-up!
Cast
- Arthur Wicksteed - Alan Jarvis
- Muriel Wicksteed - Ruth Shettle
- Dennis Wicksteed - Andrew Rickinson
- Constance Wicksteed - Juliette Mills
- Mrs. Swabb - Maggie Cearns
- Canon Throbbing - Brian Scoltock
- Lady Rumpers - Pam Jarvis
- Felicity Rumpers - Sarah O'Driscoll
- Mr. Shanks - Matthew Lyne
- Sir Percy Shorter - John Hartnett
- Mr. Purdue - John Lyne
Crew
- Stage Management - Jill Davies, Annette Wiseman
- Lighting Design - Keefe Browning
- Lighting Operator - Keefe Browning
- Sound - Paul O'Connor
- Set Construction - Anton Krause
- Prompt - Juliet Male
Reviews
Some review quotes go here
Gallery
Reminiscences and Anecdotes
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See Also
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References
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External Links
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