Big Bad Mouse
Encyclopedia
Big Bad Mouse is a frequently revived 1960s British
stage play and theatrical comedic farce
that, although not specifically written for them, became famous as a loose vehicle for the many talents of the British comedy actors Jimmy Edwards
and Eric Sykes
and has constantly seen various revivals with other stars right up to 2008.
Written jointly by Phillip King
and Falkland Cary, from an original idea by Ivan Butler, Big Bad Mouse was first staged in 1964 but did not become a box office hit until Edwards and Sykes took over the lead roles and toured the show across the UK between 1966 and 1967. It was also a top attraction in London
's West End
for three years between 1967 and 1970. The anarchic pair brought their own talents to play and twisted the plot and dialogue out of all recognition.
No two shows were identical and it became an increasingly fluid experience, including audience participation and regular breaking of the 'fourth wall
' between the stage and the audience. The role of the supporting cast quickly became one of trying to keep straight faces while steering the show on track and somewhere close to the original script, while the show’s two stars generally played the fool.
That is until a flasher and stalker chases a young female across Wandsworth Common
(changed to a prominent local park when the show toured) and Bloome is accused of being the flasher by the victim and a police detective. Surprisingly the female workers in the office, to whom Bloome had previously been all but invisible, suddenly find him sexually interesting and almost a hero figure.
Their flirtatious attentions have the effect of bolstering Bloome's ego and he quickly grows in confidence and stature, finally answering back to Price-Hargreaves and even suggesting revolutionery improvements that greatly increase sales thus drawing the attention of Chunkibix company owner, Lady Chesapeake.
So satisfying is Bloome’s transformation and newly found confidence that when the young victim discovers she had made a mistake, in identifying him incorrectly as her assailant, Bloome becomes increasingly desperate to keep her quiet.
Jimmy Edwards played Price-Hargreaves in his trademark blustery harumphing way, that was easily recognised from his role as the headmaster in Whack-O!. Sykes played Bloome, the eponymous mouse of the show’s title. Throughout the show the one ability that marked the boss’s dominance in the office was his practised skill in picking up his phone handset by chopping with his hand, causing the handset to leap off the cradle into his waiting hand. Bloome, trying to emulate this, would always fail with the trick, either hurting his hand or sending the handset spinning into a waste paper basket. Only when he has gained confidence after being accused does he succeed, grinning widely at the audience.
At one point, during what is supposed to be a serious solo scene by Sykes, Edwards could be seen by the audience in his shirtsleeves and braces relaxing in the wings on an armchair. He is smoking a cigarette, flicking over pages of the play's script and making occasional wry faces at Sykes's performance, while Sykes feigns puzzlement at the audience's laughter. During the mid-play interval the cast joined the audience in the bar, remaining in character and performing several hilarious set piece conversations in between chatting with theatre goers.
The office secretary, Miss Spencer, who works for both men, starts the play as a shy drab and dowdily dressed spinster, but when Bloome gains his undeserved reputation and she herself is smitten by him, she also starts to blossom seemingly unnoticed. In the classic Sykes-Edwards production, the young actress playing the part endured endless ad-libs and delays in the action and still resolutely hit her cues and scripted lines. She became the stable point of reference around which the anarchic comics wove their magic. In the final act, having confessed her love for Bloome while wearing a drab ankle-length dress with a high lace collar, she next appears in a sexy red leather mini-skirt and boots, much to the delight of the audience who have appreciated her professional contribution to the performance.
(see article discussion page)
at the intimate Shaftesbury Theatre
. Just before the run started Eric Sykes was taken ill and hospitalised. At short notice his part was taken by the multitalented Roy Castle
, who stayed with the show for most of the three-times-extended three-year London run to sold out houses.
Castle’s additional skills as a musician, a singer and as a supple dancer brought an extra facet to the show, which by now bore little resemblance to the original script. Castle inserted a trumpet
solo into the show while Edwards walked into the front stalls and sat, apparently bored, reading a newspaper. He later joined Castle on stage playing the euphonium
in a musical duet. Castle also tap danced all over the stage, the set, the desks and a large leather armchair. Edwards had often stepped forward about three quarters through the show and announced sotto voce after another character's line "And that,… ladies and gentlemen,… is the last remaining line from the original script!" With Castle in the cast it now prompted Edwards to additionally comment earlier in the performance, just after Castle’s bespectacled first entrance "The last actor (Sykes) was deaf…and now they have given me a blind one to work with" - Castle was genuinely short sighted and the glasses he wore were his own prescription pair. When he later removed them, as the confident Bloome, Edwards commented to the audience "You do realise he can't see a damn thing now, don't you?"
With the play effectively finished Edwards and Castle returned to the stage each night for an encore that often lasted for over an hour of jokes and routines, often 'attacking' the front stalls and private boxes with toy machine guns filled with table tennis balls. The audience in the expensive private boxes were usually the recipients of most of the more outrageous ribbing and leg-pulling during the show.
When the London show closed in 1970, Eric Sykes returned to the role as Bloome and it was taken on a repeat national tour of almost every theatre in the UK with the remainder of the original West End cast. For the next three years the show also toured extensively across the Middle East
and Australia
.
with an American
cast during 1973.
Revived almost constantly for the last thirty years by both professional and amateur companies, the latest incarnation of the show featured the well known British comedy duo of Tommy Cannon
and Bobby Ball
supported by Allo Allo’s Sue Hodge
as Lady Chesapeake and newcomer Emily Trebicki as secretary Miss Spencer. The show opened in Hull
during May 2008 and toured six other cities, before ending in August at the Theatre Royal, Windsor
, to mixed reviews. Generally well accepted by the audiences and playing to packed houses, several regional theatre critics felt that Cannon and Ball did not possess the comedic depth and wider talents of the show’s original 1960s stars. The Birmingham Post commented in June 2008:
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
stage play and theatrical comedic farce
Farce
In theatre, a farce is a comedy which aims at entertaining the audience by means of unlikely, extravagant, and improbable situations, disguise and mistaken identity, verbal humour of varying degrees of sophistication, which may include word play, and a fast-paced plot whose speed usually increases,...
that, although not specifically written for them, became famous as a loose vehicle for the many talents of the British comedy actors Jimmy Edwards
Jimmy Edwards
Jimmy Edwards DFC was an English comedic script writer and comedy actor on both radio and television, best known as Pa Glum in Take It From Here and as the headmaster 'Professor' James Edwards in Whack-O!-Biography:...
and Eric Sykes
Eric Sykes
Eric Sykes, CBE is an English radio, television and film writer, actor and director whose performing career has spanned more than 50 years. He frequently wrote for and/or performed with many other leading comedy performers and writers of the period, including Tony Hancock, Spike Milligan, Peter...
and has constantly seen various revivals with other stars right up to 2008.
Written jointly by Phillip King
Philip King (playwright)
Philip King, a British playwright and actor, was born in Yorkshire in 1904. He is best known as the author of the farce See How They Run . He lived in Brighton and many of his plays were first produced in nearby Worthing. He continued to act throughout his writing career, often appearing in his...
and Falkland Cary, from an original idea by Ivan Butler, Big Bad Mouse was first staged in 1964 but did not become a box office hit until Edwards and Sykes took over the lead roles and toured the show across the UK between 1966 and 1967. It was also a top attraction in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
's West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
for three years between 1967 and 1970. The anarchic pair brought their own talents to play and twisted the plot and dialogue out of all recognition.
No two shows were identical and it became an increasingly fluid experience, including audience participation and regular breaking of the 'fourth wall
Fourth wall
The fourth wall is the imaginary "wall" at the front of the stage in a traditional three-walled box set in a proscenium theatre, through which the audience sees the action in the world of the play...
' between the stage and the audience. The role of the supporting cast quickly became one of trying to keep straight faces while steering the show on track and somewhere close to the original script, while the show’s two stars generally played the fool.
Plot
The action takes place in the sleepy factory office of the fictitious Chunkibix Ltd. The office is run by the domineering and pompous Mr Price-Hargreaves whose assistant, the shy and downtrodden Mr Bloome, is under his thumb and generally treated badly.That is until a flasher and stalker chases a young female across Wandsworth Common
Wandsworth Common
Wandsworth common is a public common in Wandsworth, south London. It is close to Clapham Common and Wandsworth Common railway station. It is wholly in the London borough of Wandsworth...
(changed to a prominent local park when the show toured) and Bloome is accused of being the flasher by the victim and a police detective. Surprisingly the female workers in the office, to whom Bloome had previously been all but invisible, suddenly find him sexually interesting and almost a hero figure.
Their flirtatious attentions have the effect of bolstering Bloome's ego and he quickly grows in confidence and stature, finally answering back to Price-Hargreaves and even suggesting revolutionery improvements that greatly increase sales thus drawing the attention of Chunkibix company owner, Lady Chesapeake.
So satisfying is Bloome’s transformation and newly found confidence that when the young victim discovers she had made a mistake, in identifying him incorrectly as her assailant, Bloome becomes increasingly desperate to keep her quiet.
The 1960s original tour
Edwards and Sykes knew each other well through several previous collaborations, including just completing the film The Plank, and were instantly comfortable with the format. With a fluid mixture of clever dialogue, quick fire jokes, sight gags, witty repartee backwards and forwards with the audience and even slapstick routines the pair ripped the original script to sheds. The rest of the cast struggled manfully to keep the play on track and constantly suffered light heartedly at the hands of the two main stars.Jimmy Edwards played Price-Hargreaves in his trademark blustery harumphing way, that was easily recognised from his role as the headmaster in Whack-O!. Sykes played Bloome, the eponymous mouse of the show’s title. Throughout the show the one ability that marked the boss’s dominance in the office was his practised skill in picking up his phone handset by chopping with his hand, causing the handset to leap off the cradle into his waiting hand. Bloome, trying to emulate this, would always fail with the trick, either hurting his hand or sending the handset spinning into a waste paper basket. Only when he has gained confidence after being accused does he succeed, grinning widely at the audience.
At one point, during what is supposed to be a serious solo scene by Sykes, Edwards could be seen by the audience in his shirtsleeves and braces relaxing in the wings on an armchair. He is smoking a cigarette, flicking over pages of the play's script and making occasional wry faces at Sykes's performance, while Sykes feigns puzzlement at the audience's laughter. During the mid-play interval the cast joined the audience in the bar, remaining in character and performing several hilarious set piece conversations in between chatting with theatre goers.
The office secretary, Miss Spencer, who works for both men, starts the play as a shy drab and dowdily dressed spinster, but when Bloome gains his undeserved reputation and she herself is smitten by him, she also starts to blossom seemingly unnoticed. In the classic Sykes-Edwards production, the young actress playing the part endured endless ad-libs and delays in the action and still resolutely hit her cues and scripted lines. She became the stable point of reference around which the anarchic comics wove their magic. In the final act, having confessed her love for Bloome while wearing a drab ankle-length dress with a high lace collar, she next appears in a sexy red leather mini-skirt and boots, much to the delight of the audience who have appreciated her professional contribution to the performance.
(see article discussion page)
Shaftesbury Theatre run
After two years of highly successful touring all over the UK it was decided in 1967 to commence a season in London’s West EndWest End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
at the intimate Shaftesbury Theatre
Shaftesbury Theatre
The Shaftesbury Theatre is a West End Theatre, located on Shaftesbury Avenue, in the London Borough of Camden.-History:The theatre was designed for the brothers Walter and Frederick Melville by Bertie Crewe and opened on 26 December 1911 with a production of The Three Musketeers, as the New...
. Just before the run started Eric Sykes was taken ill and hospitalised. At short notice his part was taken by the multitalented Roy Castle
Roy Castle
Roy Castle OBE was an English dancer, singer, comedian, actor, television presenter and musician. He attended Honley High School, where there is now a building in his name...
, who stayed with the show for most of the three-times-extended three-year London run to sold out houses.
Castle’s additional skills as a musician, a singer and as a supple dancer brought an extra facet to the show, which by now bore little resemblance to the original script. Castle inserted a trumpet
Trumpet
The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
solo into the show while Edwards walked into the front stalls and sat, apparently bored, reading a newspaper. He later joined Castle on stage playing the euphonium
Euphonium
The euphonium is a conical-bore, tenor-voiced brass instrument. It derives its name from the Greek word euphonos, meaning "well-sounding" or "sweet-voiced"...
in a musical duet. Castle also tap danced all over the stage, the set, the desks and a large leather armchair. Edwards had often stepped forward about three quarters through the show and announced sotto voce after another character's line "And that,… ladies and gentlemen,… is the last remaining line from the original script!" With Castle in the cast it now prompted Edwards to additionally comment earlier in the performance, just after Castle’s bespectacled first entrance "The last actor (Sykes) was deaf…and now they have given me a blind one to work with" - Castle was genuinely short sighted and the glasses he wore were his own prescription pair. When he later removed them, as the confident Bloome, Edwards commented to the audience "You do realise he can't see a damn thing now, don't you?"
With the play effectively finished Edwards and Castle returned to the stage each night for an encore that often lasted for over an hour of jokes and routines, often 'attacking' the front stalls and private boxes with toy machine guns filled with table tennis balls. The audience in the expensive private boxes were usually the recipients of most of the more outrageous ribbing and leg-pulling during the show.
When the London show closed in 1970, Eric Sykes returned to the role as Bloome and it was taken on a repeat national tour of almost every theatre in the UK with the remainder of the original West End cast. For the next three years the show also toured extensively across the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
and Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
.
Later versions
Big Bad Mouse had a short run in New YorkNew York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
with an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
cast during 1973.
Revived almost constantly for the last thirty years by both professional and amateur companies, the latest incarnation of the show featured the well known British comedy duo of Tommy Cannon
Tommy Cannon
Tommy Cannon is a comedian and the feed member of comedy double act Cannon and Ball, along with Bobby Ball....
and Bobby Ball
Bobby Ball
Bobby Ball is one half of the comedy double act Cannon and Ball, along with Tommy Cannon.He married his first wife, Joan, in 1964, with whom he had two sons, Robert and Darren , who are now a comedy double act in their own right, performing under their surname 'Harper'. Bobby and his first wife...
supported by Allo Allo’s Sue Hodge
Sue Hodge
Sue Hodge is a British actress, best known for her role as the waitress Mimi Labonq in the BBC sitcom Allo 'Allo!...
as Lady Chesapeake and newcomer Emily Trebicki as secretary Miss Spencer. The show opened in Hull
Kingston upon Hull
Kingston upon Hull , usually referred to as Hull, is a city and unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It stands on the River Hull at its junction with the Humber estuary, 25 miles inland from the North Sea. Hull has a resident population of...
during May 2008 and toured six other cities, before ending in August at the Theatre Royal, Windsor
Theatre Royal, Windsor
The Theatre Royal, Windsor is located in the town of Windsor, Berkshire, England, directly across the road from Windsor Castle.The present building was opened on 17 December 1910 after the previous theatre had burned down on 18 February 1908, under the ownership of Sir William Shipley.With the...
, to mixed reviews. Generally well accepted by the audiences and playing to packed houses, several regional theatre critics felt that Cannon and Ball did not possess the comedic depth and wider talents of the show’s original 1960s stars. The Birmingham Post commented in June 2008:
- "Cannon and Ball try to rework the same magic in this revival, with Bobby as the doormat and Tommy as his superior superior. However, despite their longevity as a double act, neither of them is as comically gifted as Sykes and Edwards…. As subtle as being hit over the head with a rubber mallet, this is really a way for the duo to extend their panto season into summer, and if audiences approach it with the same willingness to be amused as they do that, they probably will be."