''Dirty Work'' is a

farce Farce is a comedy that seeks to entertain an audience through situations that are highly exaggerated, extravagant, ridiculous, absurd, and improbable. Farce is also characterized by heavy use of physical comedy, physical humor; the use of delibe ...

Ben Travers Ben Travers (12 November 188618 December 1980) was an English writer. His output includes more than 20 plays, 30 screenplays, 5 novels, and 3 volumes of memoirs. He is most notable for his long-running series of farces first staged in the 19 ...

. It was one of the series of twelve

Aldwych farce The Aldwych farces were a series of twelve stage farces presented at the Aldwych Theatre, London, nearly continuously from 1923 to 1933. All but three of them were written by Ben Travers. They incorporate and develop British low comedy styles ...

s that ran in uninterrupted succession at the

Aldwych Theatre The Aldwych Theatre is a West End theatre, located in Aldwych in the City of Westminster, central London. It was listed Grade II on 20 July 1971. Its seating capacity is 1,200 on three levels. History Origins The theatre was constructed in th ...

in London from 1923 to 1933. The play depicts the maladroit but ultimately successful efforts of a shop-walker to outwit a gang of jewel thieves. The piece opened on 7 March 1932 and ran for 193 performances until 26 August. A film adaptation of the play was made in 1934.

Background

The actor-manager

Tom Walls Thomas Kirby Walls (18 February 1883 – 27 November 1949) was an English stage and film actor, producer and director, best known for presenting and co-starring in the Aldwych farces in the 1920s and for starring in and directing the film adapt ...

had produced, directed and co-starred in nine farces at the Aldwych since 1923. By the early 1930s his interest was moving from theatre to cinema, and though he produced the new work he did not appear in it.

, who had written all but two of the previous farces, made no attempt to write a Walls-type role for another actor to play.

Ralph Lynn Ralph Clifford Lynn (8 March 1882 – 8 August 1962) was an English actor who had a 60-year career, and is best remembered for playing comedy parts in the Aldwych farces first on stage and then in film. Lynn became an actor at the age of 1 ...

, who had co-starred with Walls in the previous farces, became the sole star."Aldwych Theatre", ''The Times'', 8 March 1932, p. 12 Many members of the familiar company remained: Lynn, in his customary "silly ass" role,

Robertson Hare John Robertson Hare, Order of the British Empire, OBE (17 December 1891 – 25 January 1979) was an English actor, who came to fame in the Aldwych farces. He is remembered by more recent audiences for his performances as the Archdeacon in the p ...

, as a figure of put-upon respectability;

Mary Brough Mary Bessie Brough (16 April 1863 – 30 September 1934) was an English actress in theatre, silent films and early talkies, including eleven of the twelve Aldwych farces of the 1920s and early 1930s. The daughter of a well-known actor, Lione ...

as a good-hearted battle-axe;

Ethel Coleridge Ethel Coleridge (14 January 1883 – 15 August 1976) was an English actress, best known for her roles in the original Aldwych farces in the 1920s and 1930s. Life and career Coleridge was born Ethel Coleridge Tucker in South Molton, Devonshire, ...

as the voice of middle-class primness; and the saturnine Gordon James. Walls was missed by the critics and the public;"The Playhouses", ''

The Illustrated London News ''The Illustrated London News'', founded by Herbert Ingram and first published on Saturday 14 May 1842, was the world's first illustrated weekly news magazine. The magazine was published weekly for most of its existence, switched to a less freq ...

'', 19 March 1932, p. 456 the play was the first of the series to run for fewer than 250 performances.

Original cast

*Gordon Bray – Archibald Batty *Detective-Sergeant Barlow – Phil Carlton *Connie Pepper –

Marjorie Corbett Marjorie Corbett (''née'' Hodgson; 12 May 1912 – 27 July 1995) was a British stage actor, stage, voice actress, puppeteer, and film actress, she was the wife of Sooty's creator, Harry Corbett.Wearing p.9 Earliest Appearances on Film Cor ...

*Maisie Till – Joan Brierley *Mrs Bugle –

*Wrench – Louis Bradfield *James Milligan –

*Toome – Gordon James *Hugh Stafford – Henry Hewitt *Leonora Stafford –

Margaretta Scott Margaretta Mary Winifred ScottBrian McFarlane, "Scott, Margaretta Mary Winifred (1912–2005)", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, Jan 201available online Retrieved 30 August 2020. (13 February 1912 – 15 Apr ...

*Evie Wynne –

Constance Carpenter Constance Emmeline Carpenter (19 April 1904 – 26 December 1992) was an English-born American film and musical theatre actress. Biography Carpenter was born in Bath, Somerset, in 1904, the daughter of Harold Carpenter and his wife Mabel Anne ...

*Mona Flower –

*Clement Peck –

*Mr Jolly – George Barrett

Synopsis

James Milligan, a senior employee in a

Bond Street Bond Street in the West End of London links Piccadilly in the south to Oxford Street in the north. Since the 18th century the street has housed many prestigious and upmarket fashion retailers. The southern section is Old Bond Street and the l ...

jewellers, comes under suspicion when an item goes missing. The house detective is an accomplice of a gang of jewel thieves, and plants a stolen jewel on Milligan. A junior employee, Evie Wynne, who admires Milligan, knows him to be innocent. With the aid of the formidable housekeeper, Mrs Bugle, the grim night-watchman, Toome, and the solemn head assistant, Clement Peck, they stage a fake burglary of the shop, adopting disguises. Peck's disguise requires him to shave off his cherished moustache, to his indignation. By dropping a discreet word to a suave customer who is correctly suspected of being part of the gang, the conspirators lure the real thieves into intruding into the premises during the supposed burglary. The thieves are rounded up, and Evie and Milligan pair off.

Critical reception

The Daily Mirror The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily tabloid newspaper. Founded in 1903, it is part of Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), which is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the title on its masthead ...

'' commented, "There have been Aldwych farces with a better plot and more cumulative farcical interest, but in this one Ben Travers, the perennial author, shows that he still has the ability to get a laugh in almost every line." ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' found "the smooth impulse of Mr Tom Walls is sadly lacking", but considered the play "in general, and with intervals, a pleasant absurdity". ''

The Manchester Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' thought the play not quite on a par with earlier Aldwych farces, specifically '' Rookery Nook'' or '' Thark'', but granted it "a worthy place in the sequence". The paper praised Travers for lifting English farce "well out of the rut of French night clubs and hotel corridors". ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...

'' thought the play "a quieter instalment of the Aldwych serial than usual utnevertheless one of the best. It has more purposeful restraint than some, and lays its preposterous mines more cunningly in the fairway."

Adaptations

The play was made into a film in 1934, under the same title. Tom Walls directed; Lynn, Hare, James and

reprised their stage roles. The role of Mrs Bugle was written out; Mary Brough had been taken fatally ill at Easter 1934."Obituary – Miss Mary Brough, a versatile comic actress", ''The Times'', 1 October 1934, p. 17

Notes

References

* {{Aldwych farces 1932 plays Aldwych farce British comedy plays Plays by Ben Travers British plays adapted into films