Come On, Jeeves
by P.G. Wodehouse and Guy Bolton
Sweet ECA, Edinburgh
About the play:
Bertie Wooster is at a school where members of the upper class are taught how to fend for themselves without the help of their staff, who were becoming increasingly rare following the Second World War. He was awarded the prize for darning socks, but was expelled when it was discovered that he was smuggling an old woman into his study at night to do the work for him.
Meanwhile, Wooster’s gentleman’s personal gentleman, the inimitable Jeeves is on loan to the Earl of Towcester. The Earl — Bill — is another aristocrat suffering on account of the social revolution. Even his lazy brother-in-law, Rory, Lord Carmoyle, has a job, walking the shop floor of Harrods! Angered at losing too often at the races, aided by the flawless Jeeves and urged on by the financial demands of an impending marriage to the young Jill Wyvern, Bill decides to become a bookie. His alias: “Honest Patch Perkins”. His disguise: an outrageously loud tie, a false moustache and an eye-patch. His personal assistant: the magnificent Jeeves. His downfall: Sahib Biggar, White Hunter.
P.G. Wodehouse treats us to a dramatic romp around a decaying country house after the War. Sahib Biggar, who can pop a rhino between the eyes at two hundred yards, has won a double. Unfortunately, Patch Perkins and his faithful assistant Jeeves flee from the racetrack leaving the Sahib fuming, cheated and vindictive. Enter stage right Mrs Spottsworth — a loud, wealthy, widowed clairvoyant American — and the scene is set for this hilarious Wodehouse classic.
Will Mrs Spottsworth buy Towcester Abbey and free the Earl from financial ruin? Will Sahib Biggar have his winning ticket honoured? Why does the ghost of Lady Agatha flush the lavatory so incessantly? Will sundered hearts be restored to one another? And — more importantly — has Jeeves eaten enough fish? Come and join us for this fresh, original production of P.G. Wodehouse’s classic Come On, Jeeves.
