Welcome to Ray Cooney Plays

For Professional Repertory Rights please contact
SAMUEL FRENCH LTD at www.samuelfrench.com

For all other Professional and Foreign Language Rights please contact
RAY COONEY PLAYS at rights@raycooneyplays.co.uk
Tel: 020 8397 0021 (from Overseas +44 20 8397 0021)
Fax: 020 8397 0070 (from Overseas +44 20 8397 0070)

Steven Tancred, a young lawyer has been told by his Boss to quit smoking. Our show starts with Steven visiting a hypnotherapist, Dr. Patel, who is assisting in this endeavour. In a trance, Steven is inadvertently regressed to a previous existence in 1929 Chicago – when he was a young guy called Johnny May who is a reluctant mobster with Bugs Moran’s gang. Johnny has fallen for a gorgeous nightclub singer named Ruby and wants to escape Bugs and the mob to go and live with Ruby on a farm. Slight complication – Ruby is Bugs Moran’s ‘broad’.

Back in the present day a confused and agitated Steven sifts through all the old press cuttings of 1929 and discovers that Bugs Moran was a Mobster who actually existed (he did too!) and, moreover, the greying photos of Bugs are just as Steven saw him in his regressed state. Steven’s amazement turns to horror when he sees a press cutting headed ‘St. Valentine’s day Massacre’ – he is even more horrified to read that every member of Bugs’ gang was wiped out by his arch rival Al Capone. His horror turns to disbelief when he reads that Johnny May was one of the gang who was slaughtered. The photo of Johnny May could be that of Steven.

Because Steven’s law firm is involved in a high-profile law suit, Steven’s colleague, Jeff, gets more and more irate with Steven when Steven insists on having daily ‘regression’ sessions with Dr. Patel in a desperate effort to somehow prevent Johnny from getting killed in the massacre. Barbara, Steven’s fiancé, is also furious with Steven at his lack of concentration on their up-coming wedding and his besotted involvement with the past – especially Ruby!

As one can’t change the past – which Jeff tries to get through to the almost deranged Steven – it might be considered impossible for TWICE IN A LIFETIME to have a happy ending. But, as Dr. Patel points out to Steven, there is a reason for being regressed to a previous existence.
And true love conquers anything!

With the story and book by Ray Cooney and the music by Chris Walker and Keith Strachan, TWICE IN A LIFETIME is assured of having lots of laughter and a few tears as the scenes zip between the London of today and the Ragtime of 1929 Chicago. It’s also something of a challenge for the actor playing Steven/Johnny as he ‘doubles’ the two characters!!

CAST 6 men 6 women plus Ensemble of at least 10 singers/dancers
SET Multiple

For all Amateur Rights please contact
SAMUEL FRENCH LTD AT www.samuelfrench.com

All other Rights please contact Alan Osman: alan@raycooneyplays.co.uk

For more information, go to www.twiceinalifetime.co.uk


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Shortcuts to: West End Openings Rights information requirements Synopses and publishing/performing rights West End Openings: 1961 - ONE FOR THE POT 1964 - CHASE ME COMRADE 1965 - CHARLIE GIRL 1967 - BANG BANG BEIRUT 1968 - MY GIDDY AUNT 1968 - NOT NOW DARLING 1971 - MOVE OVER MRS MARKHAM 1973 - WHY NOT STAY FOR BREAKFAST 1974 - THERE GOES THE BRIDE 1977 - ELVIS 1981 - HER ROYAL HIGHNESS 1982 - RUN FOR YOUR WIFE! 1984 - TWO INTO ONE 1985 - WIFE BEGINS AT FORTY 1990 - OUT OF ORDER 1992 - IT RUNS IN THE FAMILY 1995 - FUNNY MONEY! 2001 - CAUGHT IN THE NET 2005 - TOM, DICK AND HARRY 201? - TWICE IN A LIFETIME Last updated 19th January 2012 Back to Top Rights information requirements: To enable the Agents to issue licences more effectively, please make sure that you furnish the following details when applying for permission to produce a play: Status: Professional/Amateur Country in which the play is to be performed Language in which the play is to be performed Name of Producing Company Address of Producing Company Contact Name Telephone and Fax number Email address Name of Theatre where the play is to be performed Seating Capacity of Theatre Average price of ticket PLEASE NOTE! NOTHING in our licences [for the plays written by Ray Cooney or Michael Cooney] gives the right to Film, Video or Audio record a performance. A separate agreement can be applied for in writing, for Archive records only (NOT for public exhibition) and such applications will not be reasonably refused. However, placing any excerpts on YouTube, Facebook etc. is likely to be in contravention of the copyright laws and possibly a criminal offence. Back to Top Synopses: ONE FOR THE POT CHASE ME COMRADE CHARLIE GIRL BANG BANG BEIRUT MY GIDDY AUNT NOT NOW DARLING MOVE OVER MRS MARKHAM WHY NOT STAY FOR BREAKFAST THERE GOES THE BRIDE ELVIS HER ROYAL HIGHNESS RUN FOR YOUR WIFE! TWO INTO ONE WIFE BEGINS AT FORTY TIME’S UP ONE GOOD TURN OUT OF ORDER IT RUNS IN THE FAMILY FUNNY MONEY! CAUGHT IN THE NET TOM, DICK AND HARRY TWICE IN A LIFETIME Back to Top ONE FOR THE POT One would imagine that it’s not difficult to give £10,000 to the son of your deceased best friend. The problem for Mr. Hardcastle is that he didn’t know his best friend had four sons – and that they were identical quadruplets! And he didn’t expect all four (now grown up) to arrive on his doorstep at the same time, claiming the money. Ray’s first play and in collaboration with Tony Hilton, offers a wonderful leading role for the young comedy actor playing the four identical quadruplets – an innocent simple lad, a sophisticated man–of-the-world, an Irish rogue and a suave Frenchman. The actor also gets to play...but that would be giving too much away. Its original London production ran for four and a half years. CAST 7 men 4 women ONE SET For Amateur Rights and Professional Repertory Rights please contact JOSEF WEINBERGER LTD at www.josef-weinberger.com For all other Professional Rights please contact FILM RIGHTS at www.filmrights.ltd.uk Back to Top CHASE ME COMRADE In the 1960s Nureyev, the famous Russian ballet dancer, defected to the West. It was a dramatic story of intrigue and high-level connivance. Just after the event Ray wrote CHASE ME COMRADE – the story of a defecting Russian ballet dancer involved in intrigue and connivance at the highest level. During its three year London run Nureyev himself saw the play several times and laughed as much as the rest of the audience. CAST 7 men 3 women ONE SET For Amateur Rights and Professional Repertory Rights please contact JOSEF WEINBERGER LTD at www.josef-weinberger.com For all other Professional Rights please contact FILM RIGHTS at www.filmrights.ltd.uk Back to Top CHARLIE GIRL Ray’s first musical co-written with Hugh and Margaret Williams. It proved to be a huge, popular success and ran for over five years in London’s Adelphi Theatre. All enquiries to Peter Murphy at CURTIS BROWN Tel: 020 7396 6600 (from abroad +44 20 7396 6600) Back to Top BANG BANG BEIRUT A British Secret Service Agent’s attempt to smuggle a young boy King out of a Middle-East country is complicated when the Agent has to involve the assistance of a pair of touring theatre performers. This comedy, written with Tony Hilton in 1965, was very much ‘of is time’ and is not amongst Ray’s regularly performed plays. CAST 7 men 4 women ONE SET No longer available Back to Top MY GIDDY AUNT Once more there is a marvellous leading role for someone to portray more than one role. An actress this time and she plays an eccentric, domineering Dowager Duchess and her twin sister, a down-to- earth cockney charlady The piece is set in India and , although it has all the laughs you’d expect from a Cooney-Chapman comedy, there are twists a-plenty in this spoof of a thriller. CAST 5 men 2 women ONE SET For Amateur Rights and Professional Repertory Rights please contact JOSEF WEINBERGER LTD at www.josef-weinberger.com For all other Professional Rights please contact FILM RIGHTS at www.filmrights.ltd.uk Back to Top NOT NOW DARLING Gilbert Bodley is determined to give his girlfriend a mink coat. There is a problem – Gilbert is married. Another problem – the girlfriend is married. So Gilbert persuades her best friend, Arnold, to assist in a devious plot – which produces more problems. NOT NOW DARLING was the first of many international hits from Ray and John Chapman. CAST 5 men 6 women ONE SET For Amateur Rights and Professional Repertory Rights please contact JOSEF WEINBERGER LTD at www.josef-weinberger.com For all other Professional Rights please contact FILM RIGHTS at www.filmrights.ltd.uk Back to Top MOVE OVER MRS MARKHAM Mr and Mrs Markham have only one bedroom in their apartment. Against his better judgement, Mr Markham allows his friend, Mr Lodge, to borrow the bedroom for one evening to engage in a romance with Miss Wilkinson. Against her better judgement, Mrs Markham allows Mrs Lodge to borrow the bedroom for an evening with Walter. Against her better judgement, the maid allows the interior decorator to persuade her to spend an evening with him in the Markham’s bedroom. Oh, yes – it’s the same evening! CAST 4 men 5 women ONE SET For Amateur Rights and Professional Repertory Rights please contact JOSEF WEINBERGER LTD at www.josef-weinberger.com For all other Professional Rights please contact FILM RIGHTS at www.filmrights.ltd.uk Back to Top WHY NOT STAY FOR BREAKFAST One critic said of this delightful comedy, “Lots of laughter and a few tears”. George, a hardened bachelor in his late thirties, is preparing dinner for himself in his apartment when there’s a knock at the door. It’s Louise, a seventeen-year-old “hippie” girl who’s walked out on her boyfriend from the apartment above and wants to borrow the money for her train fare back home. George is horrified – not at the request for finance but by the fact that Louise is, quite clearly, 9 months pregnant. Before the evening is out George has delivered the feisty Louise’s baby and his life will never be the same again. CAST 2 men 1 woman 3 walk-ons ONE SET For Amateur Rights and Professional Repertory Rights please contact JOSEF WEINBERGER LTD at www.josef-weinberger.com For all other Professional Rights please contact FILM RIGHTS at www.filmrights.ltd.uk Back to Top THERE GOES THE BRIDE Timothy Westerby is overworked, underpaid, stressed-out, and his daughter is getting married in what he thinks is an overly-lavish and overly-expensive ceremony. Timothy is ripe for a nervous breakdown – and, on the morning of the wedding, he has one! It takes the form of ‘Polly’, the most gorgeous, voluptuous girl who just wants to give herself to Timothy – the pity is, she’s an apparition. The fact is, of course not apparent to Timothy who is convinced that Polly is totally real and is delighted to have this sexy guest at the wedding. Timothy’s wife, his mother-in-law, his daughter and the groom’s parents take a different view! CAST 4 men 4 women ONE SET For Amateur Rights and Professional Repertory Rights please contact JOSEF WEINBERGER LTD at www.josef-weinberger.com For all other Professional Rights please contact FILM RIGHTS at www.filmrights.ltd.uk Back to Top ELVIS Written as a celebration of the life of Elvis Presley, this musical was a huge success in London and subsequently equally successful on a world tour of Europe, Australia, Canada and Japan. It’s one of Ray’s rare departures from comedy but has all the theatrical hallmarks that make his work so special. Elvis’s life is told through the eyes of three performers portraying Elvis – the young Elvis starting out, the mature successful movie star who finally fades and the triumphant re-emergence of the older Elvis at Las Vegas. CAST 7 men/singers 4 women/singers 10 musicians All enquiries to RAY COONEY PLAYS at rights@raycooneyplays.co.uk Tel: 020 8397 0021 (from Overseas +44 20 8397 0021) Fax: 020 8397 0070 (from Overseas +44 20 8397 0070) Back to Top HER ROYAL HIGHNESS The successful formula of one actor playing dual roles is repeated in this collaboration with Royce Ryton. This gift of a part (two parts) for a young actress sees her doubling as Princess Diana and an up-front, outspoken Australia girl from the Outback. This comedy-drama purports to tell the ‘true’ story of Diana during the week before her wedding. The young bride-to-be loses courage and flees to a secret hideout. However, with all that is at stake, the wedding to Charles must go ahead – a ‘double’ for Diana has to be found and schooled within the week. The best look-alike is found in a shanty town in Australia! During the course of the next week the play charts a happy course between romantic comedy, thriller and drama. Owing to subsequent events in the tragic life of the real Diana, this play is not available for performance at the present time. CAST 5 men 6 women 4 walk-ons All enquiries to RAY COONEY PLAYS at rights@raycooneyplays.co.uk Tel: 020 8397 0021 (from Overseas +44 20 8397 0021) Fax: 020 8397 0070 (from Overseas +44 20 8397 0070) Back to Top RUN FOR YOUR WIFE! John Smith is a taxi driver and very ordinary – except that he has two wives. He has a lovely wife and a perfect existence in Streatham and a lovely wife and a perfect existence in Wimbledon. And he flits between Streatham and Wimbledon – a distance of only 2 miles – like an over-sexed bumble bee. This could have gone on forever except that one day a policeman...but that would be giving the game away. RUN FOR YOUR WIFE ran for over eight years in London followed by a New York production. It was described by the critics as “British comedy at its best” and is constantly being revived all over the world. CAST 6 men 2 women ONE SET 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.” *Clare Brotherwood* A few of the casts are listed below. Many actors wanted to come back and play a different part. YVONNE ARNAUD THEATRE MARY SMITH – CAROL HAWKINS BARBARA SMITH – HELEN GILL JOHN SMITH – RAY COONEY DET SGT TROUGHTON – PETER BLAKE STANLEY GARDENER – ROYCE MILLS REPORTER – ARTHUR BOSTRUM DET SGT PORTERHOUSE – BILL PERTWEE BOBBY FRANKLYN – JIMMY THOMPSON LADY VISITOR – JAN GOODMAN SHAFTESBURY THEATRE MARY SMITH – CAROL HAWKINS BARBARA SMITH – HELEN GILL JOHN SMITH – RICHARD BRIERS DET SGT TROUGHTON – PETER BLAKE STANLEY GARDENER – BERNARD CRIBBINS REPORTER – SAM COX DET SGT PORTERHOUSE – BILL PERTWEE BOBBY FRANKLYN – ROYCE MILLS SHAFTESBURY THEATRE MARY SMITH – CAROL HAWKINS BARBARA SMITH – HELEN GILL JOHN SMITH – JAMES BOLAM DET SGT TROUGHTON – SAM COX STANLEY GARDENER – IAN OGILVY REPORTER – STUART SHERWIN DET SGT PORTERHOUSE – STRATFORD JOHNS BOBBY FRANKLYN – ROYCE MILLS SHAFTESBURY THEATRE MARY SMITH – ANNA DAWSON BARBARA SMITH – HELEN GILL JOHN SMITH – TERRY SCOTT DET SGT TROUGHTON – SAM COX STANLEY GARDENER – ERIC SYKES REPORTER – STUART SHERWIN DET SGT PORTERHOUSE – BILL PERTWEE BOBBY FRANKLYN – ROYCE MILLS CRITERION THEATRE MARY SMITH – JACKI PIPER BARBARA SMITH – ANITA GRAHAM JOHN SMITH – DEREK FOWLDS DET SGT TROUGHTON – SAM COX STANLEY GARDENER – ROYCE MILLS REPORTER - PAUL RATCLIFFE DET SGT PORTERHOUSE – ALFRED MARKS BOBBY FRANKLYN – BRIAN GODFREY CRITERION THEATRE MARY SMITH – PATRICIA BRAKE BARBARA SMITH – HELEN GILL JOHN SMITH – RALPH BATES DET SGT TROUGHTON – RON ALDRIDGE STANLEY GARDENER – BRIAN MURPHY REPORTER – MICHAEL BOOTHE DET SGT PORTERHOUSE – LIONEL JEFFRIES BOBBY FRANKLYN – GRAHAM JONES CRITERION THEATRE MARY SMITH – LINDA HAYDEN BARBARA SMITH – HELEN GILL JOHN SMITH – DAVID MCCALLUM DET SGT TROUGHTON – GARETH HUNT STANLEY GARDENER – DEREK GRIFFITHS REPORTER – GREGORY PHILLIPS DET SGT PORTERHOUSE – WINDSOR DAVIES BOBBY FRANKLYN – DAVID MASTERMAN CRITERION THEATRE MARY SMITH – UNA STUBBS BARBARA SMITH – AIMI MACDONALD JOHN SMITH – RAY COONEY DET SGT TROUGHTON – GARETH HUNT STANLEY GARDENER – JOHN QUAYLE REPORTER – JOHN HUGHES DET SGT PORTERHOUSE – DENNIS RAMSDEN BOBBY FRANKLYN – ROYCE MILLS ALDWYCH THEATRE MARY SMITH – JACQUELINE CLARKE BARBARA SMITH – JUDY GRAHAM JOHN SMITH – TERRY SCOTT DET SGT TROUGHTON – RON ALDRIDGE STANLEY GARDENER – DEREK GRIFFITHS REPORTER – MICHAEL COTTERILL DET SGT PORTERHOUSE – ERIC SYKES BOBBY FRANKLYN – PAUL TOOTHILL DUCHESS THEATRE MARY SMITH – CAROL HAWKINS BARBARA SMITH – LORRAINE CHASE JOHN SMITH – RALPH BATES DET SGT TROUGHTON – RON ALDRIDGE STANLEY GARDENER – TERRY SCOTT REPORTER – JOHN HUGHES DET SGT PORTERHOUSE – WINDSOR DAVIES BOBBY FRANKLYN – BARRIE GOSNEY DUCHESS THEATRE MARY SMITH – TRICIA THORNS BARBARA SMITH – CAROLYN LISTER JOHN SMITH – RAY COONEY DET SGT TROUGHTON – RON ALDRIDGE STANLEY GARDENER – IAN TALBOT REPORTER – MICHAEL COTTERILL DET SGT PORTERHOUSE – WINDSOR DAVIES BOBBY FRANKLYN – BRIAN GODFREY WHITEHALL THEATRE MARY SMITH – JACQUELINE CLARKE BARBARA SMITH – JUDY GRAHAM JOHN SMITH – TERRY SCOTT DET SGT TROUGHTON – RON ALDRIDGE STANLEY GARDENER – LESLIE LAWTON REPORTER – MICHAEL COTTERILL DET SGT PORTERHOUSE – ERIC SYKES BOBBY FRANKLYN – PAUL TOOTHILL WHITEHALL THEATRE MARY SMITH – KAY WALBYE BARBARA SMITH – HILARY LABOW JOHN SMITH – RAY COONEY DET SGT TROUGHTON – GARETH HUNT STANLEY GARDENER – HENRY MCGEE REPORTER – DOUG STENDER DET SGT PORTERHOUSE – DENNIS RAMSDEN BOBBY FRANKLYN – GAVIN REED WHITEHALL THEATRE MARY SMITH – CAROL HAWKINS BARBARA SMITH – HEATHER ALEXANDER JOHN SMITH – JEFFREY HOLLAND DET SGT TROUGHTON – KEN FARRINGTON STANLEY GARDENER – PAUL SHANE REPORTER – MICHAEL BOOTHE DET SGT PORTERHOUSE – WINDSOR DAVIES BOBBY FRANKLYN – BRIAN GODFREY VIRGINIA THEATRE-BROADWAY & US TOUR MARY SMITH – KAY WALBYE BARBARA SMITH – HILARY LABOW JOHN SMITH – RAY COONEY DET SGT TROUGHTON – GARETH HUNT STANLEY GARDENER – PAXTON WHITEHEAD REPORTER – DOUG STENDER DET SGT PORTERHOUSE – DENNIS RAMSDEN BOBBY FRANKLYN – GAVIN REED UK TOUR MARY SMITH – JAN HUNT BARBARA SMITH – MAYA WOOLFE JOHN SMITH – RODNEY BEWES DET SGT TROUGHTON – ANTHONY VERNER STANLEY GARDENER – BARRY KILLERBY REPORTER – PAUL BARKER DET SGT PORTERHOUSE – CHRISTOPHER SCOULAR BOBBY FRANKLYN – GRAHAM JAMES UK TOUR JEFFREY HOLLAND DAVID CALLISTER SOPHIE LAWRENCE ERIC POTTS NICK WILTON NICOLA BOYCE TERRY O’SULLIVAN UK TOUR ERIC SYKES ROBIN ASKWITH BRITT EKLAND IAN LAVENDER RON ALDRIDGE KATE O’SULLIVAN BRIAN GODFREY For Amateur Rights and Professional Repertory Rights please contact SAMUEL FRENCH LTD at www.samuelfrench.com For all other Professional and Foreign Language Rights please contact RAY COONEY PLAYS at rights@raycooneyplays.co.uk Tel: 020 8397 0021 (from Overseas +44 20 8397 0021) Fax: 020 8397 0070 (from Overseas +44 20 8397 0070) Back to Top TWO INTO ONE If you are a Cabinet Minister in the government it is not easy to arrange to spend a night in a London hotel with a young lady. The problem is not so much that the Minister and the young lady are both married (not to each other obviously!) but that the young lady is the personal secretary to the Leader of the Opposition. Richard Willey (the Cabinet Minister) makes the mistake of enlisting the assistance of his own secretary, George Pigden. Before the end of the evening George’s intervention has resulted in Richard’s wife and the young lady’s husband turning up at the hotel. Add to this a wily waiter, a suspicious hotel manager and a puritanical Member of Parliament and you have all the ingredients of a Cooney comedy which made it the hit of the year both in London and Paris. CAST 5 men 3 women 3 walk-ons ONE MULTIPLE SET For Amateur Rights and Professional Repertory Rights please contact SAMUEL FRENCH LTD at www.samuelfrench.com For all other Professional and Foreign Language Rights please contact RAY COONEY PLAYS at rights@raycooneyplays.co.uk Tel: 020 8397 0021 (from Overseas +44 20 8397 0021) Fax: 020 8397 0070 (from Overseas +44 20 8397 0070) Back to Top WIFE BEGINS AT FORTY As with WHY NOT STAY FOR BREAKFAST, WIFE BEGINS AT FORTY was an American collaboration, and once again, is a delightful mixture of comedy and pathos. It tells the story of George who, believing he has a happy marriage, is more than shattered to be told by Linda, his wife of 18 years, that she is going to leave him. With advice from their son, George’s elderly father, Roger (George’s best friend) and a little help from the cocktail cabinet, George takes a hazardous course to rejuvenate his marriage. CAST 4 men 2 women ONE SET For Amateur Rights and Professional Repertory Rights please contact SAMUEL FRENCH LTD at www.samuelfrench.com Back to Top TIME’S UP When Peter visits a hypnotherapist as a last desperate attempt to quit smoking his life is thrown into turmoil when he is inadvertently “regressed” to an earlier existence. As this previous life involves a gorgeous girl, Peter is keen to be “regressed” as often as possible – until he learns what his occupation was in his previous life! This unusual comedy received a try-out production at The Theatre Royal, Windsor in 1997 and is, at the moment, being re-written for a further try-out in the future. This play is no longer available as Ray, along with Chris Walker, has re-written it as a musical called TWICE IN A LIFETIME For more information, go to www.twiceinalifetime.co.uk Back to Top ONE GOOD TURN Ray’s adaptation of a successful French comedy is, at present, not available for performance. CAST 5 men 2 women Not available. Back to Top OUT OF ORDER This sequel to TWO INTO ONE finds Richard Willey in the Westminster hotel once again. It’s a different young lady this time but a far worse problem arises – in the shape of a dead body stuck in the window of their suite. As Richard shouldn’t be with the young lady in the first place he can’t report the body to either the hotel management or the police so (foolish fellow) he, once more, enlists the aid of George Pigden. Richard’s wife, the wily waiter and the suspicious hotel manager from TWO INTO ONE are again on hand to add to the mayhem which includes a private detective (where did he come from?) and George’s mother’s nurse (where did she come from?) OUT OF ORDER won London’s Lawrence Olivier Award for “Comedy of the Year” and went on to be another world-wide hit. CAST 6 men 4 women ONE SET For Amateur Rights and Professional Repertory Rights please contact SAMUEL FRENCH LTD at www.samuelfrench.com For all other Professional and Foreign Language Rights please contact RAY COONEY PLAYS at rights@raycooneyplays.co.uk Tel: 020 8397 0021 (from Overseas +44 20 8397 0021) Fax: 020 8397 0070 (from Overseas +44 20 8397 0070) Back to Top IT RUNS IN THE FAMILY If you are a leading surgeon in London’s most prestigious hospital and you are delivering the “Lecture of the Year” to a hundred of the world’s leading physicians, the last thing you want is a distraught mistress from 20 years ago turning up. Well Dr. Mortimer can cope with that, but when the erstwhile mistress says that the result of their past union was a baby boy, he is more than gobsmacked. And when the ex-mistress then tells him that the baby boy, now a strapping sixteen-year old, is waiting outside to be introduced, there is only one course of action – send for faithful friend, Dr. Bonney. Typical Cooney complications ensue involving a police sergeant, Dr. Mortimor’s wife, a severe hospital matron and Dr. Bonney’s mother, although why Dr. Bonney has to impersonate both matron and Al Jolson is too complicated to explain here. CAST 6 men 5 women ONE SET For Amateur Rights and Professional Repertory Rights please contact SAMUEL FRENCH LTD at www.samuelfrench.com For all other Professional and Foreign Language Rights please contact RAY COONEY PLAYS at rights@raycooneyplays.co.uk Tel: 020 8397 0021 (from Overseas +44 20 8397 0021) Fax: 020 8397 0070 (from Overseas +44 20 8397 0070) Back to Top FUNNY MONEY! Following its two-year London run, the French version became one of Paris’s longest running productions when it ran for over three years. It’s a play that everyone can relate to. What would you do if you picked up the wrong briefcase on your way home from the office? Take it the police, of course. But what if the briefcase contained nearly a million pounds in used banknotes? Well, what Henry Perkins did - ! Suffice to say that Henry’s wife ends up with a nervous breakdown, Henry ends up with his best friend’s wife, and a drug dealer ends up with Henry’s briefcase. There are also two policemen and a taxi driver whose lives will never be the same again. CAST 6 men 2 women ONE SET For Amateur Rights and Professional Repertory Rights please contact SAMUEL FRENCH LTD at www.samuelfrench.com For all other Professional and Foreign Language Rights please contact RAY COONEY PLAYS at rights@raycooneyplays.co.uk Tel: 020 8397 0021 (from Overseas +44 20 8397 0021) Fax: 020 8397 0070 (from Overseas +44 20 8397 0070) Back to Top CAUGHT IN THE NET This play is a sequel to RUN FOR YOUR WIFE. We find John Smith eighteen years later, still happily married to his two unsuspecting wives. He now has a sixteen-year old son, Gavin, by Barbara in Streatham, and a fifteen-year old daughter, Vicki, by in Wimbledon. One day Gavin and Vicki happen to meet surfing the internet and are amazed at the coincidences concerning their respective (!) fathers: both are called ‘John Smith’; both are aged 43; and, surprise, surprise, both are taxi drivers. Vicki can’t understand her Dad’s vehement reaction when she tells him, firstly, of the amazing coincidence and, secondly, that she’s invited Gavin round to meet him and Mum, John spends the next two hours attempting to stop the inevitable. CAUGHT IN THE NET received a marvellous reception at the Vaudeville Theatre in London’s West End, where the critics received it with absolute delight: “It’s sheer joy from beginning to end”, “It has been a while since I cried laughing at the theatre, and what a joy it is when it happens” CAST 4 men 3 women ONE SET For Amateur Rights and Professional Repertory Rights please contact SAMUEL FRENCH LTD at www.samuelfrench.com For all other Professional and Foreign Language Rights please contact RAY COONEY PLAYS at rights@raycooneyplays.co.uk Tel: 020 8397 0021 (from Overseas +44 20 8397 0021) Fax: 020 8397 0070 (from Overseas +44 20 8397 0070) Back to Top TOM, DICK & HARRY TOM, DICK & HARRY finished its season at the Duke of York’s Theatre on October 29th 2005. In the cast were Joe McGann, Hannah Waterman, Stephen McGann, Mark McGann, Brian Greene, Sarah Wateridge, Mark Wingett, Louise Jameson and David Warwick. Tom and his wife are adopting a baby. It’s the happiest day of their lives – or it would have been if Tom’s brothers, Dick and Harry, hadn’t decided to help. The result of Dick and Harry’s ‘assistance’ produces two illegal immigrants, a dead body and a van load of contraband cigarettes. With the arrival of the Supervisor from the Adoption Agency and the local Police Constable Tom’s ingenuity is stretched to the limit. But things couldn’t get worse, could they? Oh, yes they could! The ever-helpful plans of Dick and Harry continue to go haywire and, in addition to the immigrants, the cigarettes and the dead body, they further lumber Tom with a Russian Mafia Mobster and a reality TV programme. Then it starts to get complicated!! Ray & Michael Cooney CLICK HERE TO READ REVIEWS OF WEST END PRODUCTION OF TOM, DICK & HARRY Click here for link to comments by Ray during rehearsals of the West End production CAST 6 Men 3 Women ONE SET. Not available for amateur performances in the UK For Professional Repertory Rights please contact SAMUEL FRENCH LTD at www.samuelfrench.com For all other Professional and Foreign Language Rights please contact RAY COONEY PLAYS at rights@raycooneyplays.co.uk Tel: 020 8397 0021 (from Overseas +44 20 8397 0021) Fax: 020 8397 0070 (from Overseas +44 20 8397 0070) Back to Top TWICE IN A LIFETIME Steven Tancred, a young lawyer has been told by his Boss to quit smoking. Our show starts with Steven visiting a hypnotherapist, Dr. Patel, who is assisting in this endeavour. In a trance, Steven is inadvertently regressed to a previous existence in 1929 Chicago – when he was a young guy called Johnny May who is a reluctant mobster with Bugs Moran’s gang. Johnny has fallen for a gorgeous nightclub singer named Ruby and wants to escape Bugs and the mob to go and live with Ruby on a farm. Slight complication – Ruby is Bugs Moran’s ‘broad’. Back in the present day a confused and agitated Steven sifts through all the old press cuttings of 1929 and discovers that Bugs Moran was a Mobster who actually existed (he did too!) and, moreover, the greying photos of Bugs are just as Steven saw him in his regressed state. Steven’s amazement turns to horror when he sees a press cutting headed ‘St. Valentine’s day Massacre’ – he is even more horrified to read that every member of Bugs’ gang was wiped out by his arch rival Al Capone. His horror turns to disbelief when he reads that Johnny May was one of the gang who was slaughtered. The photo of Johnny May could be that of Steven. Because Steven’s law firm is involved in a high-profile law suit, Steven’s colleague, Jeff, gets more and more irate with Steven when Steven insists on having daily ‘regression’ sessions with Dr. Patel in a desperate effort to somehow prevent Johnny from getting killed in the massacre. Barbara, Steven’s fiancé, is also furious with Steven at his lack of concentration on their up-coming wedding and his besotted involvement with the past – especially Ruby! As one can’t change the past – which Jeff tries to get through to the almost deranged Steven – it might be considered impossible for TWICE IN A LIFETIME to have a happy ending. But, as Dr. Patel points out to Steven, there is a reason for being regressed to a previous existence. And true love conquers anything! With the story and book by Ray Cooney and the music by Chris Walker and Keith Strachan, TWICE IN A LIFETIME is assured of having lots of laughter and a few tears as the scenes zip between the London of today and the Ragtime of 1929 Chicago. It’s also something of a challenge for the actor playing Steven/Johnny as he ‘doubles’ the two characters!! CAST 6 men 6 women plus Ensemble of at least 10 singers/dancers SET Multiple For all Amateur Rights please contact SAMUEL FRENCH LTD AT www.samuelfrench.com All other Rights please contact Alan Osman: alan@raycooneyplays.co.uk For more information, go to www.twiceinalifetime.co.uk Back to Top