The Play Wot I Wrote

The Play Wot I Wrote

"The Play Wot I Wrote" or "The Play What I Wrote" is a musical farce written by Hamish McColl, Sean Foley and Eddie Braben, starring Foley and McColl (the double act The Right Size, playing characters named "Sean" and "Hamish"), and directed by Kenneth Branagh.

ynopsis

The show is a celebration of the British double act Morecambe and Wise, and an irreverent and farcical exploration of the nature of double acts in general. Its title is drawn from one of Morecambe and Wise's catchphrases, as is "A Tight Squeeze for the Scarlet Pimple", the "play within a play" (with a cameo by a mystery celebrity guest star) which formed the play's second half. It is named after the "play wot I wrote", the inept play supposedly written by Wise and featuring a celebrity guest which formed the finale to each Morecambe and Wise show. In the "The Play Wot I Wrote", "Sean" writes a similarly inept play and is humoured by "Hamish" in the first half by having it put on. As in the Morecambe and Wise antecedent, the celebrity would play him or herself set up to appear, rather foolishly, as the title character of this play within a play.

Production history

The play debuted at the Liverpool Playhouse Theatre in the summer of 2001 and moved on later that year to its West End premiere at the Wyndham's Theatre, London, where it proved a success. It won Foley and McColl a joint Best Actor nomination at the 2002 Laurence Olivier Awards and, although they did not win, the production did achieve an Olivier Award for best comedy and for best actor in a supporting role (with the latter won by Toby Jones, who played the pair's friend Arthur).

In 2003 the play opened on Broadway where it was nominated for a Tony award. It failed to win and closed shortly afterwards. The script was only slightly rewritten for the benefit of American audiences who were unlikely to have been familiar with Morecambe and Wise.

Guest stars

British run

The British version of the show featured a number of prominent British celebrities in the role of the Mystery Guest, each appearing for only a week. Celebrities who appeared as Mystery Guests during the British run [ [http://www.bbc.co.uk/liverpool/content/articles/2004/11/08/win_the_play_what_wrote_tix_comp.shtml ] ] :
* Honor Blackman
* Kenneth Branagh
* Glenn Close
* Brian Conley
* Ralph Fiennes
* Dawn French
* Ioan Gruffudd
* Nigel Havers
* Joanna Lumley
* Ewan McGregor
* Daniel Radcliffe
* Kylie Minogue
* Roger Moore
* Neil Morrissey
* Liam Neeson
* Sting
* David Suchet
* Stephen Tompkinson
* Richard Wilson
* Charles Dance

American run

After the mystery guest star idea proved a success, it was kept in when the show was rewritten for Broadway. Celebrities who appeared as Mystery Guests during the American run [ [http://www.ibdb.com/productionreplacements.asp?ID=3542 ] ] :
* Alan Alda
* Jason Biggs
* Zoe Caldwell
* Glenn Close
* Jeff Goldblum
* Holly Hunter
* Kevin Kline
* Nathan Lane
* John Lithgow
* Eric McCormack
* John McEnroe
* Roger Moore [It was during the American run that Roger Moore, as the "Mystery Guest", collapsed on stage. [http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,450660,00.html ] ]
* Liam Neeson
* Rosie Perez
* Al Roker
* Paul Rudd

References

External links

* [http://www.ibdb.com/production.asp?ID=3542 Internet Broadway Database Page]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/reviews/1652254.stm Press reviews]


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