''Run for Your Wife'' is a 1983

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

play Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * Pla ...

Ray Cooney Raymond George Alfred Cooney, OBE (born 30 May 1932) is an English playwright, actor, and director. His biggest success, '' Run for Your Wife'' (1983), ran for nine years in London's West End and is its longest-running comedy. He has had 17 ...

Plot

The story concerns

bigamist In cultures where monogamy is mandated, bigamy is the act of entering into a marriage with one person while still legally married to another. A legal or de facto separation of the couple does not alter their marital status as married persons. I ...

John Smith, a

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

cab driver with two wives, two lives and a very precisely planned schedule for juggling them both, with one wife at a home in

Streatham Streatham ( ) is a district in south London, England. Centred south of Charing Cross, it lies mostly within the London Borough of Lambeth, with some parts extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Wandsworth. Streatham was in Surrey ...

and another nearby at a home in

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...

. Trouble brews when Smith is

mugged Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take anything of value by force, threat of force, or by use of fear. According to common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the perso ...

and ends up in hospital, where both of his addresses surface, causing both the Streatham and Wimbledon police to investigate the case. His careful schedule upset, Smith becomes hopelessly entangled in his attempts to explain himself to his two wives and two suspicious police officers, with help from his lazy layabout neighbour upstairs in Wimbledon.

Productions

Cast members have a precise schedule as well with many entrances and exits that create pressure and humour through this adult comedy.

London

Richard Briers Richard David Briers (14 January 1934 – 17 February 2013) was an English actor whose five-decade career encompassed film, radio, stage and television. Briers first came to prominence as George Starling in ''Marriage Lines'' (1961–66), but ...

and

Bernard Cribbins Bernard Joseph Cribbins (29 December 1928 – 27 July 2022) was an English actor and singer whose career spanned over seven decades. During the 1960s, Cribbins became known in the UK for his successful novelty records " The Hole in the Groun ...

took the lead roles in the original

West End theatre West End theatre is mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres in and near the West End of London.Christopher Innes, "West End" in ''The Cambridge Guide to Theatre'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998), pp. 1194–1 ...

production. It had a highly successful nine-year run in various theatres: Shaftesbury Theatre (March to December 1983), Criterion Theatre (December 1983 to March 1989), Whitehall Theatre (March 1989 to May 1990), Aldwych Theatre (May to September 1990) and Duchess Theatre (September 1990 to December 1991).

Original West End cast

as John Smith *

as Stanley Gardener *

Carol Hawkins Carol Hawkins (born 31 January 1949 in Chipping Barnet, Barnet, Hertfordshire) is an England, English actress, best known for her various comic roles in numerous TV sitcoms and films in the 1970s and 1980s. She played the roles of Sharon Eversl ...

as Mary Smith *Helen Gill as Barbara Smith * Peter Blake as DS Troughton *

Bill Pertwee William Desmond Anthony Pertwee, (21 July 1926 – 27 May 2013) was a British comedy actor. He played the role of Chief ARP Warden Hodges in the sitcom ''Dad's Army''. Early life Pertwee was born in Amersham, Buckinghamshire, on 21 July 1926 ...

as DS Porterhouse * Sam Cox as Reporter *

Royce Mills Anthony Royce Mills (12 May 1942 – 21 May 2019) was an English television, stage and film actor. He attended Eastbourne College, then studied fine art for five years and qualified as a theatre designer before attending the Guildhall School wh ...

as Bobby Franklyn

New York City

''Run for Your Wife'' opened on

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

at the

Virginia Theatre The August Wilson Theatre (formerly the Guild Theatre, ANTA Theatre, and Virginia Theatre) is a Broadway theater at 245 West 52nd Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1925, the theater was designed b ...

on March 7, 1989, directed by and starring

himself as taxi driver John Smith, and featuring Kay Walbye as his

wife, Hilary Labow as his

wife,

Gareth Hunt Alan Leonard Hunt (7 February 1942 – 14 March 2007), known as Gareth Hunt, was a British actor best remembered for playing footman Frederick Norton in '' Upstairs, Downstairs'' and Mike Gambit in '' The New Avengers''. Early life Alan Leona ...

and Dennis Ramsden as the police sergeants, and

Paxton Whitehead Francis Edward Paxton Whitehead (born 17 October 1937) is an English actor, theatre director and playwright. He was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical, Tony Award and a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Acto ...

as Smith's friend and accomplice. ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' theater critic

Mel Gussow Melvyn Hayes "Mel" Gussow (; December 19, 1933 – April 29, 2005) was an American theater critic, movie critic, and author who wrote for ''The New York Times'' for 35 years. Biography Gussow was born in New York City and grew up in Rockville ...

called the play "burdened with blind alleys, limp jokes, forced puns and troubled entendres," the acting "as ordinary as John Smith is supposed to be" and the staging "mechanical, as characters watch one another watching." The production closed on April 9 after 14 previews and 52 regular performances.

Poland

The first Polish production of ''Run for Your Wife'' opened in Warsaw's Teatr Kwadrat in 1992 under the title ''Mayday'', directed by Marcin Sławiński, and starring

Wojciech Pokora Wojciech Wacław Pokora (2 October 1934 – 4 February 2018) was a Polish actor. He has made over 40 appearances in film and television. He starred in the 1986–1987 television series ''Zmiennicy''. Selected filmography * Bad Luck (1960) * Hu ...

. It has since had a successful run in other theatres across the country, with several more productions directed by Pokora himself.

Seoul

The South Korean production of ''Run for Your Wife'', under the title ''Liar'', has had an open run in

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

since 1998, and is considered one of the most successful performances in Korean theater history. Its sequel, ''Caught in the Net,'' also has had an open run in

since 2004, under the title ''Liar 2.''

Paris, France

Run For Your Wife opened at the

Théâtre de la Michodière The Théâtre de la Michodière is a theatre building and performing arts venue, located at 4 bis, in the 2nd arrondissement of Paris. Built by in 1925 in Art Deco style, it has a tradition of showing boulevard theatre. History On the si ...

under the title ''Stationnement Alterné'' on 6 October 2005 and ran for 267 performances.
French adaptation : Stewart Vaughan and Jean-Christophe Barc
Director : Jean-Luc Moreau

cast

*Eric Metayer as Jean Martin *Roland Marchisio as Gilbert Jardinier *Cécile Arnaud as Mathilde Martin *Diana Frank as Charlotte Martin *Daniel-Jean Colloredo as Inspecteur Treguier *Gérard Caillaud as Inspecteur Pontarlier *Laurent Montagner as the photographer *Didier Constant as Claude Mareuil The script is published by l'Avant-Scène Théâtre

Lahore

On 26 and 27 November 2016, the play was directed by Faiz Rasool from

Independent Theatre Pakistan Independent Theatre Pakistan (often abbreviated to ITP) is a Pakistani theater company, theatre company and performing arts organization based in Lahore, Punjab (Pakistan), Punjab, established in March 2012. The group is directed by founder, wr ...

at Ali Auditorium,

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

Shanghai, China

Form May 13, 2021, Chinese edition of Run for Your Wife opened on XingKongJian NO.7. It is directed by Zhi Chen and Xingfei Chen. Until Oct 2021, the play has been on more than one hundred times.

cast

*Hongyuan Cao, Chengyang Huang, Xingbao Li as John Smith *Junyu Guo, Xinye Sun, Ziqiu Wu as Stanley Gardener *Enyu Li, Yihan Liu, Mengyan Zhang as Mary Smith *Xinyi Li, Yufan Wang, Jie Xu, Yiqi Xu, Xiaowan Yu as Barbara Smith *Fangzhou Hu, Fangyi Zeng, Yunzhao Wu as Vincent *Fangzhou Hu, Daqin Lin, Yinuo Tao, Tiancheng Yang as Harry *Jiluo Duan, Daqin Lin, Chengyang Huang as Bobby Franklyn

Films

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 ...

of ''Run for Your Wife'', co-

directed Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''Di ...

and John Luton, was released on 14 February 2013, with both Briers and Cribbins appearing in cameo roles. Upon release the film was savaged by critics and has been referred to as one of the worst films of all time, after it grossed just £602 in its opening weekend at the British box office to its £900,000 budget. A

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

film adaptation titled ''Mayday'' directed by Sam Akina was released in Poland on 10 January 2020. It opened to mixed reviews.''Mayday''
Mediakrytyk. Retrieved 2 January 2021.

References

{{reflist

External links

* {{ibdb show, 7678
The Stage review of a November 2007 production at Sonning Mill
Retrieved 2012-03-19. 1983 plays Black comedy plays British plays adapted into films Plays by Ray Cooney Polygamy in fiction