See How They Run
Encyclopedia
See How They Run is a classic English comedy in three acts by Philip King
. Its title is a line from the nursery rhyme Three Blind Mice
. It is considered a farce
for its tense comic situations and headlong humour, heavily playing on mistaken identity
, doors, and vicars. In 1955 it was adapted as a film
starring Roland Culver
.
at the Peterborough Rep
in 1944 prior to a British tour as an entertainment for the troops, under the auspices of ENSA
.
Henry Kendall's production, re-cast and restaged, was then presented by producer Jack de Leon at his Q Theatre
, close to Kew Bridge, as Christmas
entertainment opening on 21 December 1944. It then transferred — with one change of cast — to the Comedy Theatre, opening to rave reviews on 4 January 1945.
The cast included Joan Hickson
as the maid Ida (an actress new to comedy who had been acting at the Q Theatre since 1942) and starred Beryl Mason and George Gee as Penelope and Clive. It ran for 18 months at the Comedy, notching up 589 performances.
The West End
opening night was not without its perils. Three 'doodle-bugs' (V-1 flying bomb
s) exploded nearby. No-one budged until after the play was over, but Gee complained at the cast party that all three went off just as he was speaking his funniest lines.
in the rewrite) in the living room of the vicarage at the fictitious village of Merton-cum-Middlewick (merging various actual village names, such as Merton
and Middlewick, both in Oxfordshire
, along with the old British usage of 'cum', meaning 'alongside' in the middle of a village name, as in Chorlton-cum-Hardy
).
The lead character is Penelope Toop, former actress and now wife of the local vicar
, the Rev. Lionel Toop. The Toops employ Ida, a Cockney
maid. Miss Skillon, a churchgoer of the parish and a scold, arrives on bicycle to gossip with the vicar and to complain about the latest 'outrages' that Penelope has caused. The vicar then leaves for the night, and an old friend of Penelope's, Lance-Corporal Clive Winton, stops by on a quick visit. In order to dodge army regulations, he changes from his uniform into Lionel's second-best suit, complete with a clerical 'dog-collar' in order to see a production of "Private Lives
" (a Noël Coward
play in which they had appeared together in their acting days), while pretending to be the visiting vicar Arthur Humphrey who is due to preach the Sunday sermon
the next day.
Just before they set out, Penelope and Clive re-enact a fight scene from "Private Lives" and accidentally knock Miss Skillon (who has come back unannounced) unconscious. Miss Skillon, wrongly thinking she has seen Lionel fighting with Penelope, gets drunk on a bottle of cooking sherry and Ida hides her in the broom cupboard. Then Lionel, arriving back, is knocked silly by a Russia
n spy on the run, who takes the vicar's clothes as a disguise. To add to the confusion, both Penelope's uncle, the Bishop of Lax, and the real Humphrey unexpectedly show up early. Chaos quickly ensues, culminating in a cycle of running figures and mistaken identities. In the end, a police sergeant arrives in search of the spy to find four suspects, Lionel, Clive, Humphrey and the Russian, all dressed as clergy. No one can determine the identity of the spy (or anyone else for that matter) and the Russian is almost free when he is revealed and foiled by the quick work of Clive and Ida. The scene calms down as the sergeant leads the spy away and Humphrey leaves. Miss Skillon emerges from the closet, and she, the Bishop and Lionel demand an explanation. Penelope and Clive begin to explain in two-part harmony, getting up to the scene from "Private Lives," when Miss Skillon again manages to catch a blow in the face. She falls back into Ida's arms as the curtain falls.
and starred Ronald Shiner
as the renamed Clive Winton, Greta Gynt
as Penelope and Dora Bryan
as Ida. Arliss and Philip King collaborated on the screenplay.
at the Vaudeville Theatre
in July 1964, with a strong cast including the author Philip King in the role of The Bishop of Lax, but it ran for less than a month. More successfully, the play was revived by John David at the Greenwich Theatre
on 30 November 1978, winning especially good reviews for Andrew Robertson portraying The Reverend Arthur Humphrey as a Robertson Hare
lookalike, and played a busy Christmas and New Year season, closing in mid-January 1979.
A BBC 90-minute adaptation broadcast at Christmas 1984 starred Michael Denison
, Liza Goddard
and Maureen Lipman
.
The play was also revived on stage at the Richmond Theatre
, Surrey (28 February - 4 March 2006), and at the Duchess Theatre
, London (26 June - 28 October 2006) following a short national tour. The production was directed by Douglas Hodge
.
Hattie Morahan
starred as Penelope Toop in the touring production, the part later being taken by Nancy Carroll for the West End, who played alongside her real-life husband Jo Stone-Fewings
as Clive. The cast also included Nicholas Rowe
as the Reverend Toop, Julie Legrand as Miss Skillon, Nicholas Blane as Humphrey, Natalie Grady as Ida, Adrian Fear as the PoW, and Chris MacDonnell as the Policeman.
For the Duchess Theatre run, the cast included Tim Pigott-Smith
as The Bishop of Lax. The production received excellent notices.
2008 saw a revival at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester (15 December 2008 - 24 January 2009) starring Laura Rogers
as Penelope Toop and Nick Caldecott
as Reverend Toop.
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...
. Its title is a line from the nursery rhyme Three Blind Mice
Three Blind Mice
Three Blind Mice is an English nursery rhyme and musical round. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 3753.-Lyrics:The modern words are:-Variations and uses:Amateur music composer Thomas Oliphant noted in 1843 that:...
. It is considered a 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,...
for its tense comic situations and headlong humour, heavily playing on mistaken identity
Mistaken identity
Mistaken identity is a defense in criminal law which claims the actual innocence of the criminal defendant, and attempts to undermine evidence of guilt by asserting that any eyewitness to the crime incorrectly thought that they saw the defendant, when in fact the person seen by the witness was...
, doors, and vicars. In 1955 it was adapted as a film
See How They Run (1955 film)
See How They Run is a 1955 British comedy film directed by Leslie Arliss and starring Ronald Shiner as Wally Winton.-Cast:* Ronald Shiner as Wally Winton* Greta Gynt as Penelope Toop* James Hayter as Bishop of Lax...
starring Roland Culver
Roland Culver
Roland Culver OBE was a British stage, film, and television actor.-Life and career:...
.
Early production history
King wrote the first act in 1942 under the title Moon Madness, with the final act completed in 1943. His play was first staged by Henry KendallHenry Kendall (actor)
Henry Kendall, born in London on 28 May 1897 was an English stage and film actor, theatre director and an immaculately stylish revue artiste. He died on 9 June 1962.- Early life :...
at the Peterborough Rep
Peterborough
Peterborough is a cathedral city and unitary authority area in the East of England, with an estimated population of in June 2007. For ceremonial purposes it is in the county of Cambridgeshire. Situated north of London, the city stands on the River Nene which flows into the North Sea...
in 1944 prior to a British tour as an entertainment for the troops, under the auspices of ENSA
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...
.
Henry Kendall's production, re-cast and restaged, was then presented by producer Jack de Leon at his Q Theatre
Q Theatre
The Q Theatre, seating 490 in 25 rows with a central aisle, was opened in 1924 near Kew Bridge in west London by Jack and Beatie de Leon, and was one of a number of small, committed, independent theatre companies which included the Hampstead Everyman, the Arts Theatre Club and the Gate Theatre Studio...
, close to Kew Bridge, as Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
entertainment opening on 21 December 1944. It then transferred — with one change of cast — to the Comedy Theatre, opening to rave reviews on 4 January 1945.
The cast included Joan Hickson
Joan Hickson
Joan Hickson OBE was an English actress of theatre, film and television, famed for playing Agatha Christie's Miss Marple in the television series Miss Marple.- Wivenhoe :...
as the maid Ida (an actress new to comedy who had been acting at the Q Theatre since 1942) and starred Beryl Mason and George Gee as Penelope and Clive. It ran for 18 months at the Comedy, notching up 589 performances.
The 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...
opening night was not without its perils. Three 'doodle-bugs' (V-1 flying bomb
V-1 flying bomb
The V-1 flying bomb, also known as the Buzz Bomb or Doodlebug, was an early pulse-jet-powered predecessor of the cruise missile....
s) exploded nearby. No-one budged until after the play was over, but Gee complained at the cast party that all three went off just as he was speaking his funniest lines.
Plot
The play is set in 1943 for the original (or shortly after the end of World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
in the rewrite) in the living room of the vicarage at the fictitious village of Merton-cum-Middlewick (merging various actual village names, such as Merton
Merton, Oxfordshire
Merton is a village and civil parish near the River Ray, about south of Bicester in Oxfordshire, England.-Archaeology:In 1978 a Middle Bronze Age spearhead was found at West End Farm on the northwestern side of the village.-Manor:...
and Middlewick, both in Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....
, along with the old British usage of 'cum', meaning 'alongside' in the middle of a village name, as in Chorlton-cum-Hardy
Chorlton-cum-Hardy
Chorlton-cum-Hardy is a suburban area of the city of Manchester, England. It is known locally as Chorlton. It is situated about four miles southwest of Manchester city centre. Pronunciation varies: and are both common....
).
The lead character is Penelope Toop, former actress and now wife of the local vicar
Vicar
In the broadest sense, a vicar is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior . In this sense, the title is comparable to lieutenant...
, the Rev. Lionel Toop. The Toops employ Ida, a Cockney
Cockney
The term Cockney has both geographical and linguistic associations. Geographically and culturally, it often refers to working class Londoners, particularly those in the East End...
maid. Miss Skillon, a churchgoer of the parish and a scold, arrives on bicycle to gossip with the vicar and to complain about the latest 'outrages' that Penelope has caused. The vicar then leaves for the night, and an old friend of Penelope's, Lance-Corporal Clive Winton, stops by on a quick visit. In order to dodge army regulations, he changes from his uniform into Lionel's second-best suit, complete with a clerical 'dog-collar' in order to see a production of "Private Lives
Private Lives
Private Lives is a 1930 comedy of manners in three acts by Noël Coward. It focuses on a divorced couple who discover that they are honeymooning with their new spouses in neighbouring rooms at the same hotel. Despite a perpetually stormy relationship, they realise that they still have feelings for...
" (a Noël Coward
Noël Coward
Sir Noël Peirce Coward was an English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what Time magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise".Born in Teddington, a suburb of London, Coward attended a dance academy...
play in which they had appeared together in their acting days), while pretending to be the visiting vicar Arthur Humphrey who is due to preach the Sunday sermon
Sermon
A sermon is an oration by a prophet or member of the clergy. Sermons address a Biblical, theological, religious, or moral topic, usually expounding on a type of belief, law or behavior within both past and present contexts...
the next day.
Just before they set out, Penelope and Clive re-enact a fight scene from "Private Lives" and accidentally knock Miss Skillon (who has come back unannounced) unconscious. Miss Skillon, wrongly thinking she has seen Lionel fighting with Penelope, gets drunk on a bottle of cooking sherry and Ida hides her in the broom cupboard. Then Lionel, arriving back, is knocked silly by a Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n spy on the run, who takes the vicar's clothes as a disguise. To add to the confusion, both Penelope's uncle, the Bishop of Lax, and the real Humphrey unexpectedly show up early. Chaos quickly ensues, culminating in a cycle of running figures and mistaken identities. In the end, a police sergeant arrives in search of the spy to find four suspects, Lionel, Clive, Humphrey and the Russian, all dressed as clergy. No one can determine the identity of the spy (or anyone else for that matter) and the Russian is almost free when he is revealed and foiled by the quick work of Clive and Ida. The scene calms down as the sergeant leads the spy away and Humphrey leaves. Miss Skillon emerges from the closet, and she, the Bishop and Lionel demand an explanation. Penelope and Clive begin to explain in two-part harmony, getting up to the scene from "Private Lives," when Miss Skillon again manages to catch a blow in the face. She falls back into Ida's arms as the curtain falls.
Changes
- In the original, Clive is an English actor and former co-star of Penelope's, now conscripted into the British army - in the rewrite he is in the US Army.
- In the original, the prisoner is a German escapee from the local PoW camp - in the rewrite, he is a captured Russian spy escaping from the nearby American base.
- In the original, Penelope speaks in RP British EnglishBritish EnglishBritish English, or English , is the broad term used to distinguish the forms of the English language used in the United Kingdom from forms used elsewhere...
- in the rewrite, she becomes an American.
Quotes
- "The only other bishop's niece I know is in the chorus at the Windmill"
- "Darling, a woman with a bottom like that could say anything"
- "Sergeant, arrest most of these vicars"
- "You can't shoot me! I have diabetes!" (film version)
- "How about The Wreck of the HesperusThe Wreck of the Hesperus"The Wreck of the Hesperus" is a dramatic poem by American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, first published in Ballads and Other Poems in 1842.-Overview:...
?" "She's gone back to the cupboard"
Film
The play was made into a film in 1955. Directed by Leslie ArlissLeslie Arliss
Leslie Arliss was an English screenwriter and director. He is best known for his work on the Gainsborough melodramas directing films such as The Man in Grey and The Wicked Lady. during the 1940s...
and starred Ronald Shiner
Ronald Shiner
Ronald Alfred Shiner was a British stand-up comedian and comedic actor whose career encompassed film, West End theatre and music hall.-Career:...
as the renamed Clive Winton, Greta Gynt
Greta Gynt
Greta Gynt , born Margrethe Woxholt, was a Norwegian singer, dancer and actress. -Biography:Greta Gynt was born Margrethe Woxholt in Oslo, Norway. As a child, she came with her parents to England and started dancing lessons at the age of 5. Eventually, they moved back to Norway...
as Penelope and Dora Bryan
Dora Bryan
Dora May Bryan OBE is an English actress of stage, film and television.-Early life:Bryan was born as Dora May Broadbent in Southport, Lancashire, England. Her father was a salesman and she attended Hathershaw County Primary School in Oldham, Lancashire...
as Ida. Arliss and Philip King collaborated on the screenplay.
Revivals
The first London revival was staged by Alexander DoréAlexander Doré
Alexander Doré was a British actor, television director and screenwriter perhaps best known for his appearance as the First Spy in the 1968 film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang....
at the Vaudeville Theatre
Vaudeville Theatre
The Vaudeville Theatre is a West End theatre on The Strand in the City of Westminster. As the name suggests, the theatre held mostly vaudeville shows and musical revues in its early days. It opened in 1870 and was rebuilt twice, although each new building retained elements of the previous...
in July 1964, with a strong cast including the author Philip King in the role of The Bishop of Lax, but it ran for less than a month. More successfully, the play was revived by John David at the Greenwich Theatre
Greenwich Theatre
The Greenwich Theatre is a local theatre located in Croom's Hill close to the centre of Greenwich in south-east London.-Building history:The building was originally a music hall created in 1855 as part of the neighbouring Rose and Crown public house, but the Rose and Crown Music Hall was...
on 30 November 1978, winning especially good reviews for Andrew Robertson portraying The Reverend Arthur Humphrey as a Robertson Hare
Robertson Hare
John Robertson Hare was an English comedy actor, popularly known as Bunny, who came to fame in the Aldwych farces. He is known for routinely losing his trousers on-stage, at which point he would utter his catchphrase "Oh Calamity"...
lookalike, and played a busy Christmas and New Year season, closing in mid-January 1979.
A BBC 90-minute adaptation broadcast at Christmas 1984 starred Michael Denison
Michael Denison
John Michael Terence Wellesley Denison CBE was an English actor.-Background:Denison was born in Doncaster, South Yorkshire in 1915. He was raised by his aunt and uncle from the age of three weeks, following the death of his mother and his estrangement from his father. He was educated at Harrow...
, Liza Goddard
Liza Goddard
Liza Goddard is an English television and stage actress best known for her work in the 1970s and 1980s.-Early life:Goddard was born in Smethwick, West Midlands, England...
and Maureen Lipman
Maureen Lipman
Maureen Diane Lipman CBE is a British film, theatre and television actress, columnist and comedienne.-Early life:Lipman was born in Hull in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, the daughter of Maurice Julius Lipman and Zelma Pearlman. Her father was a tailor; he used to have a shop between the...
.
The play was also revived on stage at the Richmond Theatre
Richmond Theatre
The present Richmond Theatre, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, is a British Victorian theatre located on Little Green, adjacent to Richmond Green. It opened on 18 September 1899 with a performance of As You Like It, and is one of the finest surviving examples of the work of theatre...
, Surrey (28 February - 4 March 2006), and at the Duchess Theatre
Duchess Theatre
The Duchess Theatre is a West End theatre in the City of Westminster, London, located in Catherine Street, near Aldwych.The theatre opened on 25 November 1929 and is one of the smallest 'proscenium arched' West End theatres. It has 479 seats on two levels....
, London (26 June - 28 October 2006) following a short national tour. The production was directed by Douglas Hodge
Douglas Hodge
Douglas Hodge is an English actor, director, and musician who trained for the stage at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.Hodge is a council member of the National Youth Theatre for whom, in 1989, he co-wrote Pacha Mama's Blessing about the Amazon rain forests staged at the Almeida...
.
Hattie Morahan
Hattie Morahan
Harriet Jane Morahan is an award-winning English television, film, and stage actress.-Background:Hattie Morahan is the youngest daughter of television and film director Christopher Morahan and actress Anna Carteret...
starred as Penelope Toop in the touring production, the part later being taken by Nancy Carroll for the West End, who played alongside her real-life husband Jo Stone-Fewings
Jo Stone-Fewings
Jonathan "Jo" Stone-Fewings is an English actor. He studied at the Welsh College of Music and Drama and began his career in 1989. He has been a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company since 1994...
as Clive. The cast also included Nicholas Rowe
Nicholas Rowe (actor)
Nicholas James Sebastian Rowe is a Scottish actor.-Biography:Rowe was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, the son of English parents Alison, a singer, and Andrew Rowe, a Member of Parliament and editor. He attended Eton and received a BA in Hispanic Studies from Bristol University...
as the Reverend Toop, Julie Legrand as Miss Skillon, Nicholas Blane as Humphrey, Natalie Grady as Ida, Adrian Fear as the PoW, and Chris MacDonnell as the Policeman.
For the Duchess Theatre run, the cast included Tim Pigott-Smith
Tim Pigott-Smith
Tim Pigott-Smith is an English film and television actor.-Early life:Pigott-Smith was born in Rugby, Warwickshire, the son of Margaret Muriel and Harry Thomas Pigott-Smith, who was a journalist. He was educated at Wyggeston Boys' School, Leicester, King Edward VI School Stratford-upon-Avon, and...
as The Bishop of Lax. The production received excellent notices.
2008 saw a revival at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester (15 December 2008 - 24 January 2009) starring Laura Rogers
Laura Rogers
Laura Rogers is a British actress.-Biography:As a youngster Rogers was a member of the West Glamorgan Youth Theatre Company and Upland Arts, the Swansea Gilbert and Sullivan society...
as Penelope Toop and Nick Caldecott
Nick Caldecott
Nick Caldecott is a British Theatre Actor, born in Northern Ireland on 5 June 1968.His early career began at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester where he appeared in productions of Lady Windermere's Fan, the 1997 premiere of The Candidate and Ben Keaton's production of Bats, amongst other...
as Reverend Toop.
External links
- Review of a 1998 American revival
- London 2006 production
- Reviews in The Stage http://www.thestage.co.uk/reviews/review.php/11651/see-how-they-run and http://www.thestage.co.uk/reviews/review.php/13139/see-how-they-run (with images)
- Review of reviews http://www.theatre.com/story/id/3002908