''Plunder'' is a

farce Farce is a comedy that seeks to entertain an audience through situations that are highly exaggerated, extravagant, ridiculous, absurd, and improbable. Farce is also characterized by heavy use of physical humor; the use of deliberate absurdity o ...

by the English playwright

Ben Travers Ben Travers (12 November 188618 December 1980) was an English writer. His output includes more than 20 plays, 30 screenplays, 5 novels, and 3 volumes of memoirs. He is best remembered for his long-running Aldwych farce, series of farces first ...

. It was first given at the

Aldwych Theatre The Aldwych Theatre is a West End theatre, located in Aldwych in the City of Westminster, central London. It was listed Grade II on 20 July 1971. Its seating capacity is 1,200 on three levels. History Origins The theatre was constructed in th ...

, London, the fifth in the series of twelve

Aldwych farce The Aldwych farces were a series of twelve stage farces presented at the Aldwych Theatre, London, nearly continuously from 1923 to 1933. All but three of them were written by Ben Travers. They incorporate and develop British low comedy styles, ...

s presented by the actor-manager

Tom Walls Thomas Kirby Walls (18 February 1883 – 27 November 1949) was an English stage and film actor, producer and director, best known for presenting and co-starring in the Aldwych farces in the 1920s and for starring in and directing the film adapt ...

at the theatre between 1923 and 1933. Several of the actors formed a regular core cast for the Aldwych farces. The play shows two friends committing a jewel robbery, for arguably honourable reasons, with fatal results. The piece opened on 26 June 1928 and ran for 344 performances. Travers made a

film adaptation A film adaptation is the transfer of a work or story, in whole or in part, to a feature film. Although often considered a type of derivative work, film adaptation has been conceptualized recently by academic scholars such as Robert Stam as a dial ...

, which Walls directed in 1933, with most of the leading members of the stage cast reprising their roles.

Background

The actor-manager

produced the series of

Aldwych farces The Aldwych farces were a series of twelve stage farces presented at the Aldwych Theatre, London, nearly continuously from 1923 to 1933. All but three of them were written by Ben Travers. They incorporate and develop British low comedy styles, ...

, nearly all written by

, starring Walls and his co-star

Ralph Lynn Ralph Clifford Lynn (8 March 1882 – 8 August 1962) was an English actor who had a 60-year career, and is best remembered for playing comedy parts in the Aldwych farces first on stage and then in film. Lynn became an actor at the age of 18 ...

, who specialised in playing "silly ass" characters. Walls assembled a regular company of actors to fill the supporting roles, including

Robertson Hare John Robertson Hare, OBE (17 December 1891 – 25 January 1979) was an English actor, who came to fame in the Aldwych farces. He is remembered by more recent audiences for his performances as the Archdeacon in the popular BBC sitcom, ''All Gas ...

, who played a figure of put-upon respectability;

Mary Brough Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religious contexts * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also calle ...

in eccentric old lady roles;

Ethel Coleridge Ethel Coleridge (14 January 1883 – 15 August 1976) was an English actress, best known for her roles in the original Aldwych farces in the 1920s and 1930s. Life and career Coleridge was born Ethel Coleridge Tucker in South Molton, Devonshire, ...

as the severe voice of authority;

Winifred Shotter Winifred Florence Shotter (5 November 1904 – 4 April 1996) was an English actress best known for her appearances in the Aldwych farces of the 1920s and early 1930s. Initially a singer and dancer in the ensembles of musical comedies, Shotte ...

as the sprightly young female lead; and the saturnine Gordon James. Walls and his team had already enjoyed four substantial hits at the Aldwych, with '' It Pays to Advertise'' (1923), which had run for 598 performances; ''

A Cuckoo in the Nest ''A Cuckoo in the Nest'' is a farce by the English playwright Ben Travers. It was first given at the Aldwych Theatre, London, the second in the series of twelve Aldwych farces presented by the actor-manager Tom Walls at the theatre between 1923 ...

'' (1925, 376 performances); '' Rookery Nook'' (1926, 409 performances); and '' Thark'' (1927, 401 performances). All except the first of them were written by

. The first two of his scripts were adaptations of his earlier novels. ''Thark'' was written with the Aldwych company in mind, with the supernatural as its theme. For ''Plunder'' Travers turned to robbery and violent death.

Original cast

*Oswald Veal –

*Prudence Malone – Ena Mason *Mrs Hewlett –

*Simon Veal – Gordon James *Freddie Malone –

*D'Arcy Tuck –

*Joan Hewlett –

*Sir George Chudleigh – Archibald Batty *William – Robert Adam *Mrs Orlock –

*Chief Constable Grierson – Philip Carlton *Chief Detective-inspector Sibley – Herbert Waring *Police-constable Davies – Alfred Watson *Detective-sergeant Marchant – Arthur Williams

Synopsis

Act I

;The library at Marvin Court, near Horsham, afternoon D'Arcy Tuck has returned to England from Australia with his fiancée, Joan Hewlett, thinking that she has inherited a large country house and even larger fortune from her late grandfather. They find that the old man's housekeeper, the former Mrs Veal, now Mrs Hewlett, married him on his deathbed and inherited his entire estate. Her sinister brother Simon has an unspecified hold over her, and reminds her to follow his bidding. Among the guests at the house is Freddy Malone, an old schoolfriend of Tuck, who is by profession a gentlemanly burglar of the A J Raffles type. Malone has a female accomplice, masquerading as his sister Prudence, with whom Mrs Hewlett's hapless son, Oswald Veal, is in love. Malone was already planning to rob Mrs Hewlett of her jewellery, and agrees to cut Tuck in on the crime, thus, as they see it, redressing the wrong she has done in contriving Joan's disinheritance.

Act II

;Scene 1 – Hall of Freddy Malone's house, The Gables, Walton Heath A roulette party is in progress. The players are Freddy's house guests, Mrs Hewlett, Oswald, Sir George and Lady Chudleigh, Harry Kenward and Ruth Bennett. After the game the guests go to bed. Tuck arrives, having deceived Joan about his destination. Owing to the carelessness of his manservant, Joan has discovered that Tuck is at The Gables, along with the despised Mrs Hewlett and Oswald Veal. To Tuck's discomfiture she enters and accuses him of trying to get round the old woman and wheedle some of Joan's rightful inheritance out of her. Simon Veal secretly tells Oswald to get Mrs Hewlett to write a cheque for a substantial sum, to be handed over to Simon at three o'clock, when the other guests are asleep. Tuck and Malone are finally left alone; they go over the details of their planned robbery. ;Scene 2 – A room at The Gables Tuck and Malone creep into Mrs Hewlett's bedroom. Tuck accidentally sniffs the chloroform they have brought to dope her with. He falls on the bed beside her and then reels round the room, nearly bringing the attempted robbery to a standstill. Malone and Tuck are interrupted by the appearance outside the window of Simon Veal, who has come for the cheque he has demanded. Malone flings a towel over Veal's head; Veal falls off his ladder into a greenhouse. The robbers make their escape with Mrs Hewlett's jewels as she wakes and raises the alarm. ;Scene 3 – Hall of The Gables The household assembles. Mrs Hewlett tells them of the robbery. Chudleigh reports that Simon Veal has been found unconscious in the greenhouse. The guests give various accounts of what they have seen and done in the past hour. Joan realises the truth, and privately berates Tuck for his stupidity in taking part in the robbery. The police arrive, and Chudleigh tells Malone that Simon Veal has been pronounced dead. Malone explains privately to Tuck that though Veal's fall was accidental, their part in it, during the course of a robbery, renders them liable to the capital charge of murder.

Act III

;Scene 1 – Chief Constable Grierson's office at Scotland Yard At Scotland Yard the police discuss the case among themselves. They strongly suspect Malone and Tuck. They have discovered that Prudence is not Malone's sister, that he has no obvious means to support his lavish life-style, and that he has been ''in situ'' at the time of several notable country house robberies. Inspector Sibley questions Malone and Tuck in turn. They get through their interrogations, Malone by his suave cleverness and Tuck by his baffling idiocy, which completely entangles Sibley. They leave. Sibley continues to suspect the pair, and is confident of their imminent arrest. ;Scene 2 – Hall of The Gables Malone and Tuck question Oswald Veal who reluctantly admits that Simon was blackmailing Mrs Hewlett: when she purportedly married old Mr Hewlett, she was still married to her first husband. Malone and Tuck confront her with the truth, and frighten her into telling the police that the robber was Simon. When Sibley has departed, frustrated, Malone tells Mrs Hewlett that she and Joan will have to come to an arrangement about the division of old Mr Hewlett's estate. He tells her, "In future, be honest. It pays in the end". After she has gone he says the same to Tuck, who vows never to engage in crime again.

Reception

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 ...

'' thought the piece "a very entertaining piece of nonsense … Miss Mary Brough bounces through it all with hearty accomplishment; Miss Winifred Shotter decorates it prettily; Mr. Gordon James and Mr. Robertson Hare contribute the farce of solemnity … Mr. Walls and Mr. Lynn at Scotland Yard are delightful"."Aldwych Theatre", ''The Times'', 27 June 1928, p. 4 ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...

'' critic wrote of his "grateful laughter", found the entire cast "in tip-top form" and predicted "A year's hard labour" for them all. ''

The Manchester Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' called the piece, "an exquisitely involved, briskly moving and thoroughly funny show." ''

The Illustrated London News ''The Illustrated London News'' appeared first on Saturday 14 May 1842, as the world's first illustrated weekly news magazine. Founded by Herbert Ingram, it appeared weekly until 1971, then less frequently thereafter, and ceased publication in ...

'' declared it "London's funniest play". By the time of the play's second London revival, in 1996, Michael Billington in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' found the piece uncomfortably dated in its snobbish attitudes to class and its sexism, both, in his view exemplified by the slighting remarks about the fat, proletarian character Mrs Hewlett, originally played by Mary Brough. He concluded that Travers assumed that "you can get away with theft, and even an accidental killing, as long as you are well-bred old school chums."

Revivals and adaptations

In 1933 Walls directed a film adaptation of the play. Travers wrote the screenplay, and Walls, Lynn, Hare, Brough, Shotter and James reprised their old stage roles. The first full-scale professional stage revival of ''Plunder'' was at the

Bristol Old Vic Bristol Old Vic is a British theatre company based at the Theatre Royal, Bristol. The present company was established in 1946 as an offshoot of the Old Vic in London. It is associated with the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, which became a fin ...

in 1973, directed by Nat Brenner, with

Edward Hardwicke Edward Cedric Hardwicke (7 August 1932 – 16 May 2011) was an English actor, who had a distinguished career on the stage and on-screen. He was best known for playing Captain Pat Grant in ''Colditz'' (1972-73), and Dr. Watson in Granada Te ...

and

Peter O'Toole Peter Seamus O'Toole (; 2 August 1932 – 14 December 2013) was a British stage and film actor. He attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and began working in the theatre, gaining recognition as a Shakespearean actor at the Bristol Old Vic ...

in the Walls and Lynn roles. In 1976

Michael Blakemore Michael Howell Blakemore OBE, AO (born 18 June 1928) is an Australian actor, writer and theatre director who has also made a handful of films. A former Associate Director of the National Theatre, in 2000 he became the only individual to win T ...

directed a production for the National Theatre, which opened at the

Old Vic Old or OLD may refer to: Places *Old, Baranya, Hungary * Old, Northamptonshire, England *Old Street station, a railway and tube station in London (station code OLD) *OLD, IATA code for Old Town Municipal Airport and Seaplane Base, Old Town, Ma ...

in London, and transferred to the new

Lyttelton Theatre The Royal National Theatre in London, commonly known as the National Theatre (NT), is one of the United Kingdom's three most prominent publicly funded performing arts venues, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal Opera House. In ...

in March of the same year. The two main roles were played by

Frank Finlay Francis Finlay, (6 August 1926 – 30 January 2016) was an English stage, film and television actor, Oscar-nominated for a supporting role as Iago in Laurence Olivier's 1965 film adaptation of ''Othello''. In 1983, Finlay was directed by Ital ...

and

Dinsdale Landen Dinsdale James Landen (4 September 1932 – 29 December 2003) was an English actor. His television appearances included starring in the shows ''Devenish'' (1977) and ''Pig in the Middle'' (1980). ''The Independent'' named him an "outstanding ac ...

, with a supporting cast including

Diana Quick Diana Marilyn Quick (born 23 November 1946) is an English actress. Early life and family background Quick was born on 23 November 1946 in London, England. She grew up in Dartford, Kent, the third of four children. Her father was Leonard Qui ...

Polly Adams Pauline "Polly" Adams (born 27 August 1939) is an English actress best known for her work on the stage both in England and in the United States, and for her portrayal of Mrs. Brown on the television series ''Just William''. She made her Broadwa ...

and

Dandy Nichols Dandy Nichols (born Daisy Sander; 21 May 1907 – 6 February 1986) was an English actress best known for her role as Else Garnett, the long-suffering wife of the character Alf Garnett who was a parody of a working class Tory, in the BBC sit ...

.National Theatre programme booklet for ''Plunder'', 1976 In 1996

Kevin McNally Kevin Robert McNally (born 27 April 1956) is an English actor and writer. He is known for portraying Joshamee Gibbs in the ''Pirates of the Caribbean'' film series. Early life Born in Bristol, McNally spent his early years in Birmingham, att ...

and

Griff Rhys Jones Griffith Rhys Jones (born 16 November 1953) is a Welsh comedian, writer, actor, and television presenter. He starred in a number of television series with his comedy partner, Mel Smith. Rhys Jones came to national attention in the 1980s for h ...

starred in a production at the

Savoy Theatre The Savoy Theatre is a West End theatre in the Strand in the City of Westminster, London, England. The theatre was designed by C. J. Phipps for Richard D'Oyly Carte and opened on 10 October 1881 on a site previously occupied by the Savoy Pala ...

, directed by Peter James.Nightingale, Benedict. "Humour among thieves", ''The Times'', 4 December 1996, p. 34 In 2016,

Eton College Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, C ...

staged Plunder at their Farrer Theatre. This was to be director's Angus Graham-Campbell's last play after more than 30 years at the school.

Notes

References

* {{Aldwych farces 1928 plays Aldwych farce Comedy plays Plays by Ben Travers British plays adapted into films