Bullshot Crummond is a stage play

Play (theatre)

A play is a form of literature written by a playwright, usually consisting of scripted dialogue between characters, intended for theatrical performance rather than just reading. There are rare dramatists, notably George Bernard Shaw, who have had little preference whether their plays were performed...

 parody

Parody

A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...

ing the British pulp hero Bulldog Drummond

Bulldog Drummond

Bulldog Drummond is a British fictional character, created by "Sapper", a pseudonym of Herman Cyril McNeile , and the hero of a series of novels published from 1920 to 1954.- Drummond :...

. "Bullshot" was performed by Ron House, Diz White, John Neville-Andrews, Alan Shearman, and Derek Cunninghamwhen later made into a 1983 film

Film

A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...

, Bullshot

Bullshot (film)

Bullshot is a 1983 film, based on the stage play "Bullshot Crummond". The name comes from a parody of the 1929 film, on which it is loosely based, Bulldog Drummond....

.

The play concerns a pre-WWII plot by the dastardly Count Otto Von Brunno and his ambiguous relation Lenya Von Brunno to ruin the international diamond market by kidnapping Professor Rupert Fenton. Working against them are Hugh "Bullshot" Crummond and Rosemary Fenton (the professor's daughter). The characters are highly stereotypical: Otto a German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 supervillain

Supervillain

A supervillain or supervillainess is a variant of the villain character type, commonly found in comic books, action movies and science fiction in various media.They are sometimes used as foils to superheroes and other fictional heroes...

, Lenya a femme fatale

Femme fatale

A femme fatale is a mysterious and seductive woman whose charms ensnare her lovers in bonds of irresistible desire, often leading them into compromising, dangerous, and deadly situations. She is an archetype of literature and art...

, Fenton an absent-minded professor

Absent-minded professor

The absent-minded professor is a stock character of popular fiction, usually portrayed as a talented academic whose focus on academic matters leads them to ignore or forget their surroundings....

, Rosemary a damsel in distress

Damsel in distress

The subject of the damsel in distress, or persecuted maiden, is a classic theme in world literature, art, and film. She is usually a beautiful young woman placed in a dire predicament by a villain or monster and who requires a hero to achieve her rescue. She has become a stock character of fiction,...

 who faints and runs around in her underwear, and Crummond a highly intelligent and quick-witted hero. (However, at many times during the play, humor arises because Crummond fails to notice something very obvious, or because he is easily defeated in a fight.)

Much of the play's humor comes from its audacious (and intentionally failed) efforts to recreate film effects onstage. Examples include:

• At the beginning of the show, the Von Brunnos are piloting an airplane to England, then parachute out. This is represented by a model of a German aircraft dangling in front of the theatre curtain, then two dolls being tossed onto the stage from behind the curtain. The lights black out, and when they come back on, the actors playing Otto and Lenya are onstage, covered by parachutes.
• There is an onstage "car chase" between the heroes and villains. Lenya and Otto stand behind a large cut-out of a car and "see" Crummond following them on the road. Then, a quick change takes place, leaving Rosemary and Crummond standing behind exactly the same cutout. This effect repeats itself until Crummond's car plunges over a cliff.
• Lenya has a pet falcon named Fritz—really a mechanical bird that flaps its wings when the actress moves her arm.
• At one point, Otto "mimics" the Professor's voice to trick Crummond. In reality, the actor playing the Professor speaks with his mouth hidden from view, and the Otto actor lip-synchs.

Other humor arises from the plot, which relies on bizarre coincidences and unlikely events. For instance, when Crummond and Rosemary are in a tight spot, they manage to catch a wild carrier pigeon and have it convey a message from them; or a mysterious assassin steals an important letter, but because the letter had tea spilled on it, its ink stained a cloth napkin, so that Crummond can still figure out what it said. Otto's plots to kill Crummond include poison, a tarantula's bite, a stick of dynamite triggered by the "Converse Force Field," and a swordfight. The play is structured more as an excuse for comic gags than as an actually coherent plot.

The show is designed to be performed by only five actors, one of whom plays seven characters: Professor Fenton; Crummond's friend Algy; a Chinese assassin; a local police officer; a waiter in a hotel restaurant; a one-armed Scotland Yard inspector (who is really one of Otto's henchmen in disguise); and a Cockney crook. In addition, the actor playing Otto plays Salvatore Scalicio, a Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

 gangster

Gangster

A gangster is a criminal who is a member of a gang. Some gangs are considered to be part of organized crime. Gangsters are also called mobsters, a term derived from mob and the suffix -ster....

, in a quick-change

Quick-change

Quick-change is a performance style in which a performer or magician changes quickly within seconds from one costume into another costume in front of the audience.-Modern Quick-Change Artists:...

scene where he repeatedly switches between Otto and Salvatore.