RUN FOR YOUR WIFE
Directed by Barbara Wilcox

WINNER OF TWO NODA AWARDS :
Best play
Best Actor In A Play - Brian Clarke as John Smith


CAST

John Smith : Brian Clarke
Stanley Gardner : Barry Callander
Mary Smith : Sue Hilton
Barbara Smith : Brenda Bartlett
DS Troughton : Andrew Kidd
DS Porterhouse : Darren Houghton
Bobby Franklyn : David Hartley
The Reporter : David Sellers


Run For Your Wife tells the story of John Smith, A cab driver with two wives and a knife-edge schedule.
Unfortunate circumstances find him in the wrong house - wrong time - wrong wife. With the 'help' of friend, Stanley, things can only get worse.
First presented in London in 1982 the cast of characters included Ray Cooney, often regarded as the King of Farce.


Run for your Wife. Chorley Guardian review 12/09/07 by Cassandra Moon

Brilliant. That's the word to describe Run For Your Wife at Chorley Little Theatre this week.
A fine farce to launch CADOS's 75th anniversary season and the laughs just kept coming from beginning to end.
Great staging and the director, Barbara Wilcox, got the best out of a uniformly excellent cast and a terrific script from Ray Cooney.
Brian Clarke, as taxi driver John Smith, a man with two home and two wives, and a very strict schedule, was excellent, with some priceless facial expressions. The newspaper eating scene being a particular highlight.
Sue Hilton as Wife number one, Mary Smith showed just how to play a woman on the edge, her hysteria in later scenes was hilarious.
As was Brenda Bartlett as wife number two, Barbara Smith, displaying a fine line in facial tics and a bewilderment at the mounting chaos unfolding around her.
Barry Callander made a great Stanley Gardener, john Smiths ally, his West-Country accent was a treat.
The phone calls where he pretended to be a farmer were comedy gold.
As Bobby Franklyn, David Hartley was superb and made the most of some cracking one liners.
Andrew Kidd was a suitably laconic Sweeney-esque Detective Sergeant Troughton. The gum chewing was a nice touch.
Darren Houghton as Detective Sergeant Porterhouse was the good cop to Kidd's bad cop, always trying to smooth things over but getting the wrong end of the stick. A great performance from a relative newcomer to the stage.
David Sellers was the newspaper reporter desperate to get a picture. A cameo role but instrumental to the plot.
This is one of the funniest shows I've seen, not just at Chorley Little Theatre, but anywhere and I strongly urge the Chorley public to see it. You will not be disappointed. I laughed so much my face hurt.


NODA Review by Colin Magenty

This has to be one of the best farces in Ray Cooney's vast work in this genre. The master would have been very pleased if he had seen the production on the night I did.

All eight in the cast were on song, with not a weakness in their ranks. We were given a good set which worked well from the moment the curtain music started till the curtain came down — it was pure entertainment.

A very experienced cast with both Brian Clarke and Barry Callander sparking well of each other, and Brenda Bartlett as one of the Mrs Smiths and a splendid Sue Hilton as the other. David Hartley was the camp neighbour. I would have liked to see more paint over him on his last entrance but that's just being picky.

The two policemen were both extremely good — my congratulations to both Andrew Kidd and Darren Houghton. And David Sellers as the reporter was spot on. Congratulations to the cast and all those involved in this enjoyable show.