Celebrating
SIXTY GLORIOUS YEARS
1946 – 2006
on this page:
A Brief History
Ray Cooney is today recognised theatrically and publicly as ‘THE MASTER OF FARCE’ and a most worthy successor as an author to the great Ben Travers, and as a director/actor to Brian Rix. A most prolific writer of stage farces/comedies of high standards which have not only graced the stages of English speaking countries for more than 40 years, but have been staged worldwide and translated into more than 40 foreign languages including Chinese, Japanese and Russian. Television broadcasts in English and foreign languages have also been widespread. Thus has Ray Cooney earned an international reputation as the finest living writer of this form of theatre, and professional and amateur artists have benefited from his writing genius and influence as well as an actor/director. Charles Spencer, the doyen of theatre critics wrote of FUNNY MONEY!: ‘Ray Cooney is a national treasure’.
The following resume of Ray Cooney’s activities for over 60 years bears testament to his enormous theatrical input and influence on our theatrical world.
He began his theatrical career as a boy actor in 1946 in Song Of Norway at the Palace Theatre, London and then served his apprenticeship playing with various repertory companies before graduating to Brian Rix’s company at the Whitehall theatre in 1956, appearing in Dry Rot and Simple Spymen. It was during this period he began his writing career that, so far, has produced 20 plays all presented, not only in London, but also worldwide. They include MY GIDDY AUNT, NOT NOW DARLING, THERE GOES THE BRIDE and MOVE OVER MRS MARKHAM (all co-written with John Chapman), ONE FOR THE POT, STAND BY YOUR BEDOUIN, CHASE ME COMRADE, WIFE BEGINS AT FORTY, WHY NOT STAY FOR BREAKFAST, RUN FOR YOUR WIFE!, TWO INTO ONE, OUT OF ORDER, IT RUNS IN THE FAMILY, FUNNY MONEY! and CAUGHT IN THE NET. All these plays were directed by Ray Cooney and performed in the West End, where Ray created and played the lead roles in most of them. Ray’s latest play, TOM, DICK & HARRY (co-written with his son, Michael) had a very successful try-out at the Theatre Royal, Windsor in the Autumn of 2003. A West End production opened at the Duke of York’s Theatre in August 2005.
His American credits as actor and director include the Broadway production of RUN FOR YOUR WIFE! and seasons of TWO INTO ONE, RUN FOR YOUR WIFE! and MOVE OVER MRS MARKHAM. In the Spring of 2004, Ray directed the West Coast Premier of his play CAUGHT IN THE NET at the International City Theatre, Long Beach in California, as well as playing the part of DAD.
From 1970 as producer and director Ray has been responsible for over thirty West End productions, including Lloyd George Knew My Father, Whose Life Is It Anyway? which transferred to Broadway and received a Tony award, They’re Playing Our Song, Duet For One, Bodies, Ipi Tombi, Elvis, Clouds, Chicago, and Children Of A Lesser God (Play of the year – SWET Award), Dame Of Sark, Ghost On Tiptoe, Jack The Ripper, The Mating Game, Birds of Paradise, In At The Death and Say Goodnight to Grandma.
For many years the creation of a permanent THEATRE OF COMEDY had been his cherished dream and in 1982 he put his full energies into this project. His main concept was to create a theatre company with an identifiable policy of comedy, so, with some thirty like-minded leading actors, writers and directors as a nucleus, THE THEATRE OF COMEDY was formed. A significant step was taken in 1983 with the leasing of the Shaftesbury Theatre and in 1984 the freehold of the theatre was purchased.
The Ambassadors Theatre was also leased where more experimental work could be staged. At the Shaftesbury, Ray produced and directed RUN FOR YOUR WIFE! (which subsequently played a record-breaking run in the West End just short of 9 years), See How They Run, Pygmalion starring Peter O’Toole and John Thaw, TWO INTO ONE and the award winning OUT OF ORDER, and amongst many interesting productions at the Ambassadors Theatre Loot successfully transferred to The Lyric. During this period Passion Play was presented at Wyndhams Theatre and the multi-award winning When We Are Married at the Whitehall Theatre. In all Ray was responsible for over forty productions for THE THEATRE OF COMEDY, whilst also developing the radio, film and television interests of the company.
As a public-spirited person Ray Cooney is always available to assist, advise and lend his energies to charitable efforts especially for the young and elderly and has masterminded the acquisition of three Sunshine Coaches for this particular charity. Additionally he is only too happy, when available, to lecture on the subject of the Art of Farce/Comedy to drama schools, amateur drama societies, university students and the like, and has also penned a number of articles on this subject which have appeared in appropriate publications.
These notes – compiled by an associate of Ray’s – have been collated to record the lifetime achievements of this singularly gifted, talented, warm and kindly person.
Last updated 12th February 2006
Ray Cooney OBE
Resumé
Although better known as a comedy playwright – his London and international hits include RUN FOR YOUR WIFE!, FUNNY MONEY!, IT RUNS IN THE FAMILY, OUT OF ORDER, TWO INTO ONE, CHASE ME COMRADE, ONE FOR THE POT (with Tony Hilton), NOT NOW DARLING (with John Chapman), MY GIDDY AUNT (with John Chapman), MOVE OVER MRS MARKHAM (with John Chapman), and WIFE BEGINS AT FORTY (with Arne Sultan and Earl Barret) and CAUGHT IN THE NET– Ray has been acting since he left school at 14!
Apart from starring in his own plays in London, America and Australia, Ray has appeared in many other productions including a year in the famous The Mousetrap.
Ray has also found time to direct more than twenty London and international stage productions, produce thirty West End plays and musicals and, in 1983, create Britain’s ‘THEATRE OF COMEDY’. In the Spring of 2004, Ray directed the West Coast Premiere of his play CAUGHT IN THE NET at the International City Theatre, Long Beach in California, as well as playing the part of DAD. Ray’s latest play, TOM, DICK & HARRY (co-written with his son, Michael) had a very successful try-out at the Theatre Royal, Windsor in the Autumn of 2003 and opened at the Duke of York’s Theatre, London in August 2005. His latest offering is TWICE UPON A TIME, which is based on his play TIME’S UP. With music by Chris Walker it had a very successful try-out at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford in October 2005. Hopefully this will have a West End opening in the near future.
Many of Ray’s works have been filmed or televised, and Ray played leading roles in the movies of NOT NOW DARLING and CHASE ME COMRADE and also the BBC TV production of WIFE BEGINS AT FORTY.
Ray has been married to his artist wife, Linda for over 44 years, and they have two sons; Danny lives in Australia with his wife, Astrid and the grandchildren, Jess and Ashlea – Ray and Linda visit each Christmas to see them. Their other son, Michael, is a successful playwright and Hollywood screenwriter. Ray and Linda visit Michael, his wife Danielle and grandchildren Spencer and Oliver as often as work allows. Ray thinks that working with Michael on TOM, DICK & HARRY has been the highlight of his career.
Ray says he keeps fit, partly by swimming, playing tennis and gardening but mainly, by appearing in his own hectic plays!
In his amazing career Ray has written twenty stage comedies, which have been performed all over the world and translated into forty different languages. His RUN FOR YOUR WIFE! ran for over eight years in London, and Ray himself appeared in the New York production. It’s estimated that over 100 million tickets have been sold throughout the world for Ray Cooney comedies!
Last updated 22nd June 2009
Programme Biography
Ray Cooney began his theatrical career as a boy actor in Song of Norway at the Palace Theatre in 1946. He served his apprenticeship by playing in various repertory companies from Worthing to Blackburn before graduating to Brian Rix’s company at the Whitehall Theatre in 1956. He played in Dry Rot and Simple Spymen and then began a writing career which, to date, has produced eighteen West End plays including ONE FOR THE POT (co-written with Tony Hilton), NOT NOW DARLING, MOVE OVER MRS MARKHAM and THERE GOES THE BRIDE, (all co-written with John Chapman), CHASE ME COMRADE, WHY NOT STAY FOR BREAKFAST, WIFE BEGINS AT FORTY, RUN FOR YOUR WIFE!, TWO INTO ONE, OUT OF ORDER, IT RUNS IN THE FAMILY, FUNNY MONEY!, CAUGHT IN THE NET and TOM, DICK & HARRY (co-written with Michael Cooney).
As Producer and Director he has been responsible for over thirty London productions, including Lloyd George Knew My Father, Whose Life Is It Anyway?, They’re Playing Our Song, Duet For One, Bodies, Chicago, Clouds and Children Of A Lesser God.
In 1983 Ray formed the Theatre of Comedy Company (bringing together the founder members consisting of thirty West End stars) and he became its first Artistic Director. During Ray’s tenure the company produced over twenty plays including RUN FOR YOUR WIFE!, OUT OF ORDER, TWO INTO ONE, Passion Play and the acclaimed revivals of See How They Run, Loot, When We Are Married and Pygmalion starring Peter O’Toole and John Thaw.
During Ray’s hectic theatrical career he has always found time to continue acting, and played the last year of RUN FOR YOUR WIFE! in London before appearing in the New York production. He has also played the lead in IT RUNS IN THE FAMILY and FUNNY MONEY!. In the Spring of 2004, Ray directed the West Coast Premier of his play CAUGHT IN THE NET at the International City Theatre, Long Beach in California, as well as playing the part of DAD. Ray’s latest play, TOM, DICK & HARRY (co-written with his son, Michael) had a very successful try-out at the Theatre Royal, Windsor in the Autumn of 2003. A West End production opened at the Duke of York’s Theatre in August 2005. His latest offering is TWICE UPON A TIME, which is based on his play TIME’S UP. With music by Chris Walker it had a very successful try-out at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford in October 2005. Hopefully this will have a West End opening in the near future.Ray has been married to his artist wife, Linda for over 44 years, and they have two sons; Danny lives in Australia with his wife, Astrid and the grandchildren, Jess and Ashlea – Ray and Linda visit each Christmas to see them. Their other son, Michael, is a successful playwright and Hollywood screenwriter. Ray and Linda visit Michael, his wife Danielle and grandchildren Spencer and Oliver as often as work allows. Ray thinks that working with Michael on TOM, DICK & HARRY has been the highlight of his career.
Last updated 22nd June 2009
RUN FOR YOUR WIFE! by Ray Cooney opened at the Shaftesbury Theatre in 1983 at the same time as he formed the Theatre of Comedy there, and included in its roll of honour are such names as Richard Briers, Bernard Cribbins, James Bolam, Rodney Bewes, Ian Ogilvy, Terry Scott, Lionel Jeffries, Henry McGee, Stratford Johns, Bill Pertwee, Windsor Davies, Ralph Bates, Jack Watling, Sophie Lawrence, Una Stubbs, Aimi Macdonald, Ian Lavender, Robin Askwith and Britt Ekland. “We changed the cast every three months so we could get interesting TV names to fit it in between their TV series,” said Ray, “and it was a very happy time. We had about 20 different casts over a period of twelve years in the West End, and a lot of people came back to do it again because it was such fun.”
One of the regulars during the play’s 25-year history has been Eric Sykes who probably played Porterhouse more than anyone, and formed a Porterhouse club for fellow actors such as Alfred Marks, Lionel Jeffries and Dennis Ramsden, who played the detective sergeant over the years. It is still touring the country 25 years on! Ray himself is no stranger to the cast list. He both acted in and directed the play on Broadway, appeared in it in Florida and, more recently, ‘had such fun’ playing Bobby in a cruise ship production. “Acting for me is an indulgence,” he added.
Ray describes each of his 20 stage comedies as ‘the most enjoyable when it’s your ‘baby’ and you are in that stage of production’, but says that because of the length of its London run, RUN FOR YOUR WIFE! is perhaps the best known. “To me it seems to be one of my most recent plays; I can’t believe it’s 26 years since we first tried it out in Guildford. But there have been over 500 productions of it all over the world, from America and Canada to Argentina and South Korea and Iceland to Australia, while the number of performances over the years must run into the hundreds of thousands. And it’s been translated into 35 languages… Japanese, Chinese, Russian. French, German, Spanish, Italian. It would be easier to say which languages it hasn’t been performed in. “I wrote farce because I was an actor who appeared in a lot of farces and I did not realise how much I had learned,” he continued. “To write my kind of plays you need to understand what it’s like to be on stage.”
As well as an acting career which has spanned 62 years, Ray has also made his mark as a producer and director, with more than 30 West End plays and musicals to his credit, including Whose Life Is it Anyway? which transferred to Broadway and won a Tony award; Children of a Lesser God (Play of the Year SWET award) and Pygmalion starring Peter O’Toole and John Thaw. He began playwriting in 1959 when, with John Chapman, he co-wrote ONE FOR THE POT which ran at Brian Rix’s Whitehall Theatre for four years.
‘The Master of Farce’ OBE may be 77 but his playwriting years are far from over – he’s now working on a musical! TWICE UPON A TIME is based on his play TIME’S UP, and after four years of workshops and previews at Guildford, it’s nearing completion. With musicals Charlie Girl and Elvis already under his belt, he says TWICE UPON A TIME is a real audience pleaser. “It’s about a young lawyer who can’t quit smoking and goes to a hypnotherapist who regresses him to when he was a gangster in 1929 with Al Capone!” Ray recounted with his usual enthusiasm.
Clare Brotherwood
Last updated 22nd June 2009
Farce
Write a piece about ‘farce’ in 500 words, I was told. I’ve been involved with farce for over 50 years and I don’t think I could find any real satisfactory way of summing it up or explaining it. I’m not even sure that plays should be categorised. A ‘comedy’ is supposed to be ‘a play with a happy ending’. Chekhov described his ‘plays’ as comedies. Ben Travers’ farces were called comedies by Ben. I have a dictionary which describes ‘farce’ as “a style of comedy marked by broad humour and extravagant wit…” and then goes on to say “a ridiculous or empty show”. Now I don’t subscribe to that dictionary’s view at all. Some of Alan Ayckbourn’s plays may be fairly described as ‘farces’, but I don’t believe they are either ridiculous or empty.
It’s easy to underestimate farce, partly because there are one or two not very good ones around, and because some actors who should know better treat the playing of farce in a different way to that which they might treat the playing of tragedy. Basically, I believe that the best farces are tragedies. The plot line in a good farce should be able to be transplanted into a stark tragedy. Tragedy is the essence of farce and even the dialogue of farce should be interchangeable with that of tragedy.
Most tragedies have as their basic theme the struggle of the individual against forces which are overwhelming, and the individual’s efforts to combat these forces as the tide runs stronger against him. In addition, the individual is usually tortured because of his own character flaws and his inability to control these flaws under stress. Well, that seems to me to sum up most of my farces!
In fact, the more I think about it, the more I feel that farce probably has more in common with tragedy than it has with comedy. Comedy is frequently about an eccentric person in an everyday situation: whereas farce (and tragedy) usually involves ordinary people attempting to deal with eccentric situation.
Therefore, if farce is more akin to tragedy, it would stand to reason that the more real, the more truthful the play and the performance, the stronger will be the audience reaction. There is absolutely no difference between a man discovering his wife in bed with his best friend in a farce and a man discovering his wife in bed with his best friend in a tragedy.
The reaction of the husband in each play should be exactly the same. The difference is in the audience’s reaction – not the husband’s.
Of course, the actor playing in farce has to develop certain techniques. Clearly, he has to listen to the play or he is going to walk into a lot of laughs. The farce actor must learn, too, not to ‘hold the ball’ too long. Farce acting is very much like a tennis match: you play better when your opponent returns the ball to you well. One feature of the writing in tragedies is the long speeches where the leading player arrives centre stage and bemoans his ill luck for a couple of pages. Very nice (and not too difficult, I would suggest) for the leading player. This however, is not the stuff of farce. Very rarely are there two-page speeches with Macready pauses. You need the other actors and the other actors need you.
And I suppose it’s easy to underestimate farce because the language appears mundane and ordinary. They are not intellectualising on their predicaments. They are dealing with them – and usually under pressure.
The words ‘contrived’ and ‘concocted’ spring to mind when considering the mechanics of farce writing. Possibly that’s the difference between ‘farce’ and other types of plays. The farce writer manipulates the situation to suit his play. However, I’m convinced that the playing must remain utterly sincere and truthful. Of course, the actor can only give a truthful performance if the writer has given him a character and relationships which will sustain the performance. So the writer, too, must be sincere and truthful even though the situations are manipulated to suit the ‘contrived concoction’. I think that’s about 500 words and I hope you are a little wiser. Anyway, it’s given me food for thought.
Ray
Cooney
© RAY COONEY PLAYS
Last updated 7th May 2002
CO-WRITING
by
Ray Cooney
All I ever wanted to be was an actor. I’d started my career as a 14-year-old in Song Of Norway in 1946 – (“My God, that makes him over 77, Gladys!”) – and I saw myself as the next Olivier or Brando.
However, fate decreed that, after five years of weekly rep, I was to join Brian Rix’s company at the Whitehall Theatre. Halcyon days! From 1956 to 1960 playing to packed houses every night with my days filled with playing tennis and chasing actresses (I wasn’t married until 1962!)
It was around 1958 that, as enjoyable as the tennis and the chasing was, I felt I should be doing something more productive with my days – so I gave up the tennis. And cut down on the chasing. And started to write.
As I hadn’t the faintest idea about the construction of plays I discussed the matter with a fellow actor in Brian’s company, Tony Hilton. I’d got him at a time when he too was thinking of doing something more productive than chasing girls (Tony didn’t play tennis!) so he and I sat down to write ONE FOR THE POT.
The writing of ONE FOR THE POT took over two years, which included numerous rewrites plus try-out productions at Richmond, Wolverhampton and Birmingham. But the hard work was worth it. In 1961 it became Brian Rix’s fourth play at the Whitehall and ran for four years.
I then wrote CHASE ME COMRADE by myself for Brian, but missed the camaraderie of a co-writer. So when John Chapman (author of Brian’s two earlier plays) asked me to work with him, I jumped at the chance. What a joy! John and I sat the desk opposite each other for the next decade or so and wrote NOT NOW DARLING, MOVE OVER MRS MARKHAM, MY GIDDY AUNT and THERE GOES THE BRIDE.
I was bereft when John decided to move on to writing for television but, by now, I couldn’t stop the ideas from flowing, so for the next umpteen years I was by myself at the desk coming up with RUN FOR YOUR WIFE!, TWO INTO ONE, OUT OF ORDER, IT RUNS IN THE FAMILY, FUNNY MONEY! and CAUGHT IN THE NET.
By now it was 2003 and I was beginning to feel bereft of plots when our number two son, Michael (by this time a successful screenwriter in Hollywood) telephoned me from Los Angeles to say he’d decided to write a stage comedy and had got a bit stuck.
Could he pick my brains? I said he could happily pick what was left of them, yes. He started to tell me the basic premise and I kept interrupting and saying, “Why don’t you do this?”, “Why don’t you do that?”. After about the tenth creative interruption there was a pause and Michael said “Why don’t we write this piece together, Dad?”. I think my pause was even longer than his. Can you imagine the thrill I felt? I was so overcome I didn’t know whether to scream with delight or burst into tears – so, to prevent any outpouring of unseemly fatherly emotion, I replaced the receiver. Michael rang me straight back wanting to know if I was upset at his suggestion!
And what a joyous collaboration it has been. But if I thought I was returning to the old days of either side of the desk with pens poised, I would have had a rude awakening.
We spent the six months six thousand miles apart with the pair of us emailing the rewrites to each of our computers. It is probably the first time in history that a play has been co-written without the co-writers ever having the pleasure of a cup of tea together!
Still, there was an upside to this new method of ‘co-writing’. We didn’t exchange a single cross word, I’m now on the Internet and I’ve once again directed at my beloved Windsor.
I hope you enjoy TOM, DICK & HARRY.
Dear TheatregoerI’m often asked which of my plays was the most enjoyable experience – RUN FOR YOUR WIFE!, OUT OF ORDER, FUNNY MONEY!, IT RUNS IN THE FAMILY, CAUGHT IN THE NET?; or one from the halcyon days of co-writing with John Chapman – NOT NOW DARLING or MOVE OVER MRS MARKHAM; or even before that, when starting out with Brian Rix at the Whitehall Theatre – ONE FOR THE POT or CHASE ME COMRADE.
Well, the truth is that each play is the most enjoyable when it’s your ‘baby’ and you’re in that wonderful stage of production.
However, I will now have no hesitation in saying which of my plays has been the most absolute enjoyment, both in production and I know in retrospect. The honour goes to TOM, DICK & HARRY. Why? Several reasons but, firstly, because I had the joy of co-writing it with son, Michael (What a talent! I wonder where he gets that from?!).
“It is a tremendous feeling to walk off stage at the end of a show and hear all that laughter back there.”
“I don’t first and foremost start looking for a comedic idea. What you look for is a tragedy. People understand the predicaments that arise from certain situations and settings and that’s what they find all the funnier…”
“People who go to the theatre and who work in this industry know what goes into a farce. As an actor you work very hard in farce. When you come off stage you really know you’ve been in one! For an audience, you see, it’s all very easy to underestimate – so the more people laugh, the better I have done my job.”
“If X is in the cupboard and Y is in the bedroom and B is coming up the garden path – what does X plus Y minus B make? This kind of tangled situation appealed to my rather Machiavellian mind.”
“I guess I started writing farces because that was the style of play in which I was appearing at the time and because it appealed to the kind of crazy mind I have.”
“Farce is light-hearted. Like Morecambe and Wise it has the appearance of people just larking around, but really it is all very carefully and cleverly rehearsed. It’s supposed to look like they’re making it up as they go along.”
Last updated 29th June 2007
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