Privates on Parade: A Play with Songs in Two Acts is a 1977 farce by English playwright Peter Nichols

Peter Nichols

Peter Nichols FRSL is an English writer of stage plays, film and television.Born in Bristol, England, he was educated at Bristol Grammar School, and served his compulsory National Service as a clerk in Calcutta and later in the Combined Services Entertainments Unit in Singapore where he...

 (book and lyrics), with music by Denis King

Denis King

Denis King is an English Ivor Novello award-winning composer, singer and actor.As a writer he composed music for the British television series The Adventures of Black Beauty, Within These Walls, Lovejoy and Worzel Gummidge amongst others. He also composed the theme to the 1992 series The New...

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Plot

The play is set around the activities and exploits of the fictional Song and Dance Unit South East Asia (SADUSEA), a mostly gay British military concert party

Concert Party (entertainment)

A concert party, also called a Pierrot troupe, is the collective name for a group of entertainers, or Pierrots, popular in Britain during the first half of the 20th century. The variety show given by a Pierrot troupe was called a Pierrot show...

 stationed in Singapore

Singapore

Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

 and Malaysia in the late 1940s during the Malayan Emergency

Malayan Emergency

The Malayan Emergency was a guerrilla war fought between Commonwealth armed forces and the Malayan National Liberation Army , the military arm of the Malayan Communist Party, from 1948 to 1960....

. The drama draws upon Nichols' own experiences in the real-life Combined Services Entertainment

Combined Services Entertainment

The Combined Services Entertainment is the live entertainment arm of the Services Sound and Vision Corporation , a registered British charity. It is the official provider of live entertainment to the British Armed Forces. CSE routinely sends tours of entertainment to Afghanistan, Cyprus, Oman, the...

, the postwar successor to ENSA, Entertainments National Service Association

Entertainments National Service Association

The Entertainments National Service Association or ENSA was an organisation set up in 1939 by Basil Dean and Leslie Henson to provide entertainment for British armed forces personnel during World War II. ENSA operated as part of the Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes...

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Productions

It was premièred at Stratford by the Royal Shakespeare Company

Royal Shakespeare Company

The Royal Shakespeare Company is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs 700 staff and produces around 20 productions a year from its home in Stratford-upon-Avon and plays regularly in London, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and on tour across...

, before receiving its London première at the Aldwych Theatre

Aldwych Theatre

The Aldwych Theatre is a West End theatre, located on Aldwych in the City of Westminster. The theatre was listed Grade II on 20 July 1971. Its seating capacity is 1,200.-Origins:...

 on 17 February 1977, where it ran for 208 performances. This production won the 1977 Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Comedy.

It was revived in 1979 at the Derby Playhouse

Derby Playhouse production history

Derby Playhouse, is a theatre situated in Derby, England. It has been operated by Derby Playhouse Ltd since it opened in 1975 although the future of Derby Playhouse Ltd is currently uncertain. The following is a chronological list of productions that have been staged since it opened.This list...

, and again in 1982 with Bruce Payne

Bruce Payne

Bruce Martyn Payne is an award winning English character actor and producer and was a member of the 1980's Brit Pack. Although he is best known for his villainous roles, Bruce Payne has played characters across the spectrum...

 as Flight Sergeant Kevin Cartwright and Tim Barlow

Tim Barlow

Michael John Leigh Barlow , whose stage name is Tim Barlow or sometimes Timothy Barlow, is a British actor who has performed many small roles in a variety of films, television programmes and plays....

. A 2001 revival directed by Michael Grandage

Michael Grandage

Michael Grandage CBE is a British theatre director and producer, and current Artistic Director at the Donmar Warehouse, London. Grandage won the 2010 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play for Red.-Early years:...

 at the Donmar Warehouse

Donmar Warehouse

Donmar Warehouse is a small not-for-profit theatre in the Covent Garden area of London, with a capacity of 251.-About:Under the artistic leadership of Michael Grandage, the theatre has presented some of London’s most memorable award-winning theatrical experiences, as well as garnered critical...

 had a cast including Roger Allam

Roger Allam

Roger Allam is an English actor, known primarily for his stage career, although he has performed in film and television. He played Inspector Javert in the original London production of the stage musical Les Misérables....

, James McAvoy

James McAvoy

James McAvoy is a Scottish stage and screen actor. He made his acting debut as a teen in 1995's The Near Room and continued to make mostly television appearances until the early 2000s. His notable television work includes State of Play, Shameless, and Frank Herbert's Children of Dune...

, Malcolm Sinclair

Malcolm Sinclair

Malcolm Sinclair is a British stage and television actor. He is perhaps best known for his role as 'Assistant Chief Constable Freddy Fisher' in the television series Pie in the Sky , although he has an extensive number of film, television and theatre roles to his credit...

 and Indira Varma

Indira Varma

Indira Varma is an English actress. Her first major role was in Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love. She has gone on to appear in the television series Rome and Human Target.-Early life and background:...

, set design by Christopher Oram

Christopher Oram

Christopher Oram is a British theatre set and costume designer.-Background:He trained at the West Sussex College of Art and Design ....

 and choreography by Scarlett Mackmin

Scarlett Mackmin

Scarlett Mackmin is an English choreographer. She trained at the Martha Graham School in New York and at the Laban Centre for Movement and Dance in London...

. Allam received the 2002 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor for his performance.

Film adaptation

The play was adapted by Nichols and Handmade Films

Handmade Films

HandMade Films is a British film production and distribution company. Through a series of sales, and acquisitions, the company now known as Handmade Plc owns all the rights and assets of the original HandMade Films Ltd...

 for a 1982 film with John Cleese

John Cleese

John Marwood Cleese is an English actor, comedian, writer, and film producer. He achieved success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and as a scriptwriter and performer on The Frost Report...

, David Bamber

David Bamber

David James Bamber is an English actor, known for his television and theatre work. He is an Associate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.-Early years:...

, and Denis Quilley

Denis Quilley

Denis Clifford Quilley OBE was an English theatre, television and film actor who was long associated with the Royal National Theatre....

 directed by Michael Blakemore

Michael Blakemore

Michael Howell Blakemore OBE is an Australian actor, writer and theatre director. In 2000 he became the only individual to win Tony Awards for best Director of a Play and Musical in the same year for Copenhagen and Kiss Me, Kate....

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Awards and nominations

Awards

• 1977 Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Comedy
• 1990 New York Drama Critics' Circle
  New York Drama Critics' Circle
  The New York Drama Critics' Circle is made up of 24 drama critics from daily newspapers, magazines and wire services based in the New York City metropolitan area. The organization was founded in 1935 at the Algonquin Hotel by a group that included Brooks Atkinson, Walter Winchell, and Robert Benchley...
  
  Award Best Foreign Play