'Habeas Corpus' - Latest Production From Thurso Players
10th June 2007
Thurso Players' latest production, 'Habeas Corpus', directed by John Glen, takes to the stage for a three night run starting on Tuesday 26th June. Now, while 'Habeas Corpus' is a legal term meaning 'you must have the body' this is not a play about a trial, rather it is an early treasure from the pen of renowned playwright Alan Bennett.
This is a farce of the traditional kind in that almost everyone loses their trousers and finds reasons to run in and out of the Doctor's Surgery without his or her clothes on.
Set in 1960's Hove, the plot, which centres on Doctor Arthur Wicksteed, could have come straight from a saucy seaside postcard and is most definitely not P C. Arthur is after sex most of the time, preferably not with his wife as she is something of a horror. As a doctor, he can often avail himself of the many opportunities of meeting young ladies in various stages of undress and is tempted by the feminine charms of a young lady who, feeling faint, wanders into his surgery one afternoon.
By chance she meets the Doctor's hypochondriac son, Dennis, during her visit and learns that he is terminally ill with Brett's Palsy, whatever that is. This is the answer to her dreams as the Honourable Felicity Rumpers is with child out of wedlock, a heinous crime, even in those promiscuous times. Three months of wedded bliss with the terminally ill Dennis will give her the respectability she needs when the baby eventually arrives, hopefully nine months from the announcement of their engagement.
Meanwhile, the doctor's flat-chested sister Connie is persuaded by her charlady Mrs Swarb to send off for an 'appliance' by mail order to transform her sex life since her current courtship with the limp but good natured Canon Throbbing has spent ten years in complete stagnation. Canon Throbbing is wildly in love with Connie but, before he proposes, he desperately wants to get over his problem of looking up girls legs on trains.
On the day that Doctor Wicksteed is about to do naughty things with a patient, a Mr Shanks from Leatherhead arrives, wanting to fit the appliance and of course goes for wrong woman........chaos ensues!
You can see 'Habeas Corpus' at Thurso's Mill Theatre at 8.00pm from Tuesday 26th to Thursday 28th June. Tickets are priced at �7.00 and �5.00 and bookings can be made by calling Neil MacDonald on 01847-896956.
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Thurso Players was formed in 1950 following the closing of the Thurso Dramatic Society, Thurso Dramatic Club and earlier Caithness drama groups that can be traced back to the 1890s. Despite the logistical problems of finding rehearsal and performance spaces the Players thrived, and in 1959 founder member Robin Sinclair offered a building in the old mill complex - if they could make it safe and watertight, which eventually over two to three decades later they were able to.
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