The Confidential Clerk is a comic verse play by T. S. Eliot

T. S. Eliot

Thomas Stearns "T. S." Eliot OM was a playwright, literary critic, and arguably the most important English-language poet of the 20th century. Although he was born an American he moved to the United Kingdom in 1914 and was naturalised as a British subject in 1927 at age 39.The poem that made his...

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Synopsis

Sir Claude Mulhammer, a wealthy entrepreneur, decides to smuggle his illegitimate son Colby into the household by employing him as his confidential clerk. He hopes that his eccentric wife, Lady Elizabeth Mulhammer, will take a liking to the boy and allow him to live as her adopted son. She in fact becomes convinced that Colby is actually her own son. Meanwhile Lucasta Angel wants to marry B. Kaghan, but neither seems to have any parents at all. A drama of mistaken identity and confusion ensues. The 'confidential clerk' of the title refers both to Colby, in his new job, and Eggerson, Sir Claude's old clerk who is seen retiring at the start of the play but returns in the final act in order to resolve the situation. As in his other plays, Eliot's interests in classical drama are obvious from the formal structures, the subject-matter, and the judgement-scene ending. On the other hand, the influence of drawing room comedy is also paramount and the play is blessed not only with an entertaining if convoluted plot, but a regular peppering of witty one-liners.

Characters

• Sir Claude Mulhammer
• Lady Elizabeth Mulhammer
• Colby Simpkins
• Eggerson
• Lucasta Angel
• B. Kaghan
• Mrs Guzzard

Productions

T. S. Eliot's penultimate play premiered at the Edinburgh Festival

Edinburgh Festival

The Edinburgh Festival is a collective term for many arts and cultural festivals that take place in Edinburgh, Scotland each summer, mostly in August...

 in 1953, before transferring to the West End. It played for almost a year at the Duke of York's Theatre before embarking on a UK Tour. It was produced by Henry Sherek and directed by E. Martin Browne

E. Martin Browne

E. Martin Browne was a British theatre director, known for his production of twentieth century verse plays. He collaborated for many years with T. S...

. Paul Rogers

Paul Rogers (actor)

Paul Rogers is an English actor of film, stage and television.Rogers was born in Plympton, Devon, England, and later trained at the Michael Chekhov Theatre Studio at Dartington Hall and made his film debut in 1932...

 played Claude and Denholm Elliot played Colby. After this, the only known professional production occurred at the Everyman Theatre in Cheltenham in the 1970s. Primavera Productions

Primavera Productions

Primavera is a professional theatre company founded in 2003 by Tom Littler, who is also the Artistic Director. It is based in London, UK.Primavera is particularly noted for its revivals of rarely performed plays, although this does not seem to be its exclusive focus. This has included the...

 produced the play as part of the 'rediscoveries season 2007' at the Finborough Theatre

Finborough Theatre

The Finborough Theatre is a fifty seat theatre in the Earls Court area of London, United Kingdom , which presents new British writing, UK and premieres of new plays, primarily from the English speaking world including North America, Canada, Scotland and Ireland, music theatre, and rarely seen...

, directed by Tom Littler

Tom Littler

Tom Littler is a British theatre director and the Artistic Director and founder of award-winning theatre company Primavera Productions.His West End credits include Stephen Sondheim's Saturday Night which starred Helena Blackman, the runner-up of How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria...

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Trivia

The Confidential Clerk was the last play to become a New York Times bestseller for 33 years.