Habeas Corpus (play)

Habeas Corpus is a comedy stage play by the English author Alan Bennett. It was first performed at the Lyric Theatre in London on 10 May 1973, with Alec Guinness and Margaret Courtenay in the lead roles.

It concerns the aging Dr. Arthur Wicksteed and his pursuit of a nubile patient, Felicity Rumpers. Wicksteed's wife, Muriel, is, in turn, lusting after the charming head of the BMA, Sir Percy Shorter, who, as well as being Wicksteed's old rival, turns out to be Felicity's father - the result of an under-the-table liaison during an air-raid with Lady Rumpers, her mother.

Felicity herself is pregnant and finds a way to cover it up in the hypochondriac son of Dr. Wicksteed, Denis.

Meanwhile, Wicksteed's spinster sister Connie, ashamed of her flat-chestedness, has schemes of her own. The 'chorus' is provided by the lower-class, housekeeper Mrs Swabb.

Habeas corpus is also a legal term. It is Latin and translates as "you shall have the body".

See also

Bennett, Alan (1985). Forty Years On and Other Plays. Faber & Faber. ISBN 0571134858.