Countdown on CDS farce
About the article
This is a digitised version of an article from The Cayman Compass's print archive. Occasionally, the digitisation process introduces transcription errors, or other problems.
See the article in its original context from March 1980.
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The play is a typical Whitehall farce in the same mould as the CDS Production last year, "Chase me Comrade".
The action revolves around five men and four women. Sir William Mainwaring-Brown, played by Tony Staples, is leading a campaign against permissiveness. In order to counter this a group of hippies abduct Barry Ovis (Nick Press) a young M.P. who is about to marry his political agent and take him, drugged, to a wild party. He escapes after clouting two policemen during the raid and takes refuge in Sir William's flat. He finds the great man is far from unpermissive himself. The pleasant evening of dalliance Sir William has arranged however, is upset by a series of complications caused by a police inspector and a member of the opposition, played respectively by Terry Murphy and Graham Stapeley. The mounting frenzy culminates in a whirlwind of frenetic, panic striken plans and counter-plans as all concerned attempt to ward off discovery. The alluring females are played by Chris Benbow, Toni Parker, Val Watts and Sarah Couch.
The Play was written by Michael Pertwee who is one of today's foremost comedy writers. He is responsible for a number of Brian Rix successes including the recent "She Done It Again". He also adopted the Six Sylvaine farces which were on tour in the early Seventies. His first West End Play was "Death on The Table" which opened at the Strand back in 1938. Other plays by this writer include "Laughter in Paradise", "The Naked Truth", "A Funny Thing Happened On The Way to The Forum" and "Salt and Pepper". "Dont Just Lie There Say Something" is probably Michael Pertwee's most successful play and after opening in London in 1974 ran for four and a half years. Tickets for this Play are on sale outside the Nova Scotia Building during week days from 10:00 a.m. til 2:00 p.m.
