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Aren't We All? is a comic play by Frederick Lonsdale. The plot of this drawing room comedy concerns the Hon. William Tatham, whose wife catches him kissing another woman at a party, and he is determined to catch her in an extramarital kiss of her own; meanwhile a society grande dame has designs on an aristocrat (William's father), who is prone to afternoon flirtations with shopgirls at the British Museum.
The play has been produced on both Broadway and in the West End, and it has been adapted for film and radio.
Productions
editThe play premiered in London.[1] It was then seen on Broadway at the Gaiety Theatre on May 21, 1923, with a cast that included Leslie Howard, Robert Beatty, Cyril Maude, Alma Tell, Mabel Terry-Lewis, and Jack Whiting; it was directed by Hugh Ford and produced by Charles Dillingham.[2] Despite warm reviews,[1] the production lasted only 32 performances.[3] A revival two years later at the same theatre lasted 16 performances.[4]
Six decades later, a West End revival directed by Clifford Williams and presented by impresario Douglas Urbanski opened at the Haymarket Theatre in 1984. It transferred to Broadway and, after nineteen previews, opened on April 29, 1985, at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre, where it played a limited run of 93 performances; the cast included Rex Harrison, Claudette Colbert, Lynn Redgrave, John Michael King, and George Rose.[5] Drama Desk Award nominations went to Redgrave as Outstanding Actress in a Play and the production as Outstanding Revival.[6] Following the Broadway run (where Jeremy Brett replaced King, and Brenda Forbes joined the cast), the production toured successfully for nearly a year, playing in Los Angeles, Sydney, Melbourne, and a sold-out run at Washington's National Theatre.
Adaptations
editA film version was made in 1932, starring Gertrude Lawrence and Owen Nares.[7]
An Australian radio broadcast in 1940 starred Peter Finch.[8]
References
edit- ^ a b ""Aren't We All?, Cyril Maude's New Comedy, Delighful", New York Clipper, May 30, 1923, p. 14
- ^ "Aren't We All?" (1923), Playbill, accessed April 24, 2024
- ^ "Aren't We All?" (1925), IBDB, accessed April 24, 2024
- ^ "Aren't We All?", IBDB, accessed April 24, 2024
- ^ "Aren't We All?" (1985), IBDB, accessed April 24, 2024
- ^ "Aren't We All?" (Awards: 1985), IBDB, accessed April 24, 2024
- ^ "Aren't We All? (1932)", BFI.org. Retrieved November 10, 2024
- ^ "Lonsdale Comedy Entertains", The Wireless Weekly: The Hundred per Cent Australian Radio Journal, 35 (43 (October 26, 1940)), Sydney: Wireless Press, nla.obj-720759664, retrieved 16 March 2024 – via Trove
External links
edit- The full text of Aren't We All? at HathiTrust Digital Library
- Aren't We All? at the Internet Broadway Database (1923 production)
- Aren't We All? at the Internet Broadway Database (1985 production)
- Aren't We All? at IMDb
- Aren't We All? at the TCM Movie Database
