Ray Cooney

This British farce thrilled audiences in its 1982 debut. A taxi driver gets away with having two wives in different areas of London because of his irregular working schedule. Complication is piled upon complication as the cabby tries to keep his double life from exploding. John Smith's comic adventures continue in the sequel, Caught in the Net.

Little Theatre Farce Ray Cooney Characters: 6 male 2 female Never has this master of farce been frenetically funnier. Henry A. Perkins a mild mannered C. P. A accidently picks up the wrong briefcase one full of money. Henry assumes it is illicit cash and he decides to keep it. Knowing that the former owner must have his briefcase he rushes home to book one way fares to Barcelona. He tells his confused wife to leave everything behind; if she doesn't like Barcelo

Property lawyer Steven Tancred is disillusioned with Monday morning meetings and evicting little old ladies from their homes. He senses that there must be more to life than lawsuits and his imminent marriage to Barbara, the boss' daughter. When Steven visits hypnotist Dr Patel to stop smoking, he unexpectedly regresses to a previous existence in 1920s Chicago as Johnny May, a reluctant gangster with the notorious Bugs Moran. Returning to the present, Steven is determined not to let his past get away from him, and proceeds to 'become' Johnny as often as he can. Soon Johnny has fallen for nightclub singer Ruby, who also happens to be Bugs' 'broad'. When Steven reads in an old newspaper that Johnny and Ruby were killed in the Valentine's Day Massacre of February 1929, he is determined to save them from their fate. True love might conquer all, but can it rewrite history? A riotous time-travelling adventure, "Twice In A Lifetime" offers a number of challenging doubling opportunities as it switches between modern day London and 1920s ragtime Chicago.

The Kerwood brothers are not your everyday Tom, Dick and Harry. So when Tom Kerwood and his wife Linda nervously await Mrs Potter from the adoption agency, who's to assess them at home, it's not surprising that events get out of hand. Dick has returned from a French smuggling trip with brandy and cigarettes - and two Kosovan refugees. Meanwhile, hospital porter Harry has embarked on an ambitious plan (involving body parts) to get the price reduced on the house Tom and Linda want to buy. Hilarious mayhem ensues, as Tom must fabricate ever wilder explanations to placate Linda, Mrs Potter and a suspicious policeman. Seen to critical acclaim at London's Duke of York theatre in 2005, the Cooneys' smart, resourceful comedy starred the McGann brothers.

The sequel to "Run for your wife" finds bigamist taxi driver, John Smith, still keeping both his families blissfully unaware of each other. However, his teenage children have met on the Internet and are determined to see each other. With the help of lodger Stanley, John juggles with the truth.

Jean is preparing a birthday dinner for her mild-mannered accountant husband Henry, and friends Betty and Vic are expected any minute. When he ventually arrives Jean finds Henry is not quite the man he used to be - he wants emigrate to Barcelona immediately with a briefcase stuffed with bundles of 50 pound notes amounting to 735,000 pounds. Henry, Vic, Betty and Jean are forced intp a frantic game of cat and mouse with the police and the two couples assume different identities in their battle to keep the money. Will they succeed? This Ray Cooney farce enjoyed a run at the Playhouse Theatre, London, starring Sylvia Syms, Trevor Bannister, Henry McGee and the author himself as Henry.

Britain's master farceur ( Two Into One, Run For Your Wife, et al. ) is at it again. Set in a hospital, It Runs in the Family contains the usual assortment of farcical nuts running in and out of doors mistaking everybody for someone else, as Dr. Mortimore tries to fend off a paternity suit, an ex wife, a punkish daughter and various other lunatics so that he may, at last, deliver the Ponsonby Lecture in an international conference.

When Richard Willey, a government junior minister, plans to spend the evening with Jane Worthington, one of the opposition's typists, things go disastrously wrong in this hugely successful sequel to Two into One.

George and Linda Harper's 17 year marriage has gone stale, but George doesn't seem to be aware of it. When confronted with the problem, he gets a vasectomy, which solves nothing, so he moves out. Linda rearranges her life by enrolling in self-improvement courses. Trying for an amicable divorce, they agree to use one lawyer and hire their closest friend. When this backfires, George attempts reconciliation by trying to seduce Linda but is interrupted by the unexpected return of their son from a date. But it does result in their realizing they still care about each other and that their marriage is certainly worth a second chance.-2 women, 4 men

Two Into One is about nothing more than the hilarious attempts of a Member of Parliament to arrange a dalliance with a secretary for the PM in an out of the way little hotel. Unfortunately, he engages one of his aides to arrange the whole thing. The aide is something of a charming bumbler and he gets everything all mixed up. Also on hand are the pompously disapproving hotel manager, a venal ethnic waiter and a female Labour politician who crusades against pornography on the one hand, while on the other she is trying to lure the bumbling civil servant into bed!-5 women, 5 men

This superb example of the British farce had audiences rolling in the aisles in London and New York! A taxi driver gets away with having two wives in different areas of London because of his irregular working schedule. Complication is piled upon complication as the cabby tries to keep his double life from exploding. For a side-splitting sequel, read Caught in the Net.

George Clarke is a civil servant, a respected member of the Establishment, once married, now on his own. He lives in a flat in a converted Hampstead house. The apartment above is inhabited by hippies, and their noise often disturbs his peace. One evening young Louise Hamilton arrives on his doorstep. She has had a row with young Davey in the "pad" upstairs. She is also very pregnant. The clash between the happy and the square types is at full strength when Louise suddenly starts labour pains.-2 women, 3 men