Bang Bang! (play)
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''Bang Bang!'' is a comedy play by
John Cleese John Marwood Cleese ( ; born 27 October 1939) is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. Emerging from the Cambridge Footlights in the 1960s, he first achieved success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and as a scriptwriter and ...
. It is an adaptation of the French play ''
Monsieur chasse! ''Monsieur chasse!'' (Monsieur is hunting!) is a three-act farce by Georges Feydeau, first produced in Paris in 1892. A married man disguises his absences conducting an extramarital affair in Paris as shooting trips in the country, but an evening ...
'' by
Georges Feydeau Georges-Léon-Jules-Marie Feydeau (; 8 December 1862 – 5 June 1921) was a French playwright of the era known as the Belle Époque. He is remembered for his farces, written between 1886 and 1914. Feydeau was born in Paris to middle-class parent ...


Productions

The play made its world premiere at the
Mercury Theatre, Colchester The Mercury Theatre is a theatre in Colchester, producing highly regarded original work under the title "Mercury Productions"and also receiving touring shows. The theatre has two auditoria, and is led by Tracey Childs (Executive Producer and J ...
from 24 February to 11 March 2017. The American premiere of the play opened at the Shadowland Stages, in
Ellenville, New York Ellenville is a village within the town of Wawarsing, Ulster County, New York, United States. Its population was 4,135 at the 2010 census. Geography The village of Ellenville is about 90 miles northwest of New York City and 90 miles southwest ...
from 10 August to 9 September 2018. A new production of the play, produced by Dermot McLaughlin, Charles H. Duggan and Brian Zucker, opened at the Northcott Theatre, Exeter before touring the UK from February 2020.


Critical reception

2017/2018 Production The reviewer in ''
The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...
'' wrote: "Cleese seems to have contented himself with stuffing the original with coarse, cheap jokes. When Richard Earl's charmless doctor is rejected by Leontine, he tells her to shove it where the sun don't shine. Sorry to be prudish, but I could have done without such crudities. Characters keep breaking the fourth wall to inform the audience what a nightmare it all is, but being told a situation is getting out of control is not the same as feeling it. Disappointing". ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...
'' described the adaptation as "a production that falls short of hilarity … more creak creak than bang bang … It's Feydeau without fizz". ''
The Stage ''The Stage'' is a British weekly newspaper and website covering the entertainment industry and particularly theatre. It was founded in 1880. It contains news, reviews, opinion, features, and recruitment advertising, mainly directed at those wh ...
'' was more positive noting that "amid the... tight direction there are several laugh-out-loud moments." 2020 Production The reviewer in LondonTheatre1 wrote: "David Shields’ set is brilliantly designed, beginning at Monsieur and Madame Duchotel’s (Tony Gardner and Tessa Peake-Jones) Parisian home and switching to Madame Latour’s (Wendi Peters) chambers. The set cleverly swivels around and the Duchotel’s saloon door becomes the door to the balcony, the door to Duchotel’s dressing room becomes a wardrobe and a bookcase becomes the door to a second room in the chambers; plenty of entrance and exit opportunities here. While the scenery is being changed after the first act by the male cast members dressed in brown coats, Mme. Latour relates the story of her life in song, with the scene-shifters joining in and moving the furniture in time with the music. This production must be hard work for the excellent cast, as the action is fast-paced and often requires precision timing. For the audience, there is no such pressure; the story is a typical farce involving extramarital affairs, slamming doors and plenty of trouser dropping. The double standards of France in the 1890s are still rich pickings for comedy. Mme. Latour has just evicted a tenant for her disreputable behaviour, having multiple assignations with scruffy young men for cash. Her chambers are for the assignations of respectable married men and women, in one case they are actually married to each other. It is surprising that this play is so little known, it is comedy gold in the hands of this fantastic cast. Tessa Peake-Jones, Tony Gardner, and Richard Earl (Dr. Moricet) give a master class in farce. Wendi Peters’ facial expressions alone reduced me to tears of laughter. There are plenty of “asides” and interactions with the audience. Cast and audience all seemed to be thoroughly enjoying themselves. I am so pleased that I got to see this production, I highly recommend it."https://www.londontheatre1.com/reviews/play/uk-tour-of-bang-bang-at-yvonne-arnaud-theatre-guildford-review/


References

2017 plays British plays Plays based on other plays Comedy plays {{2010s-play-stub