Play Reading - Charley’s Aunt by Brandon Thomas

Charley's Aunt was first produced at the Royalty Theatre in London on October 21, 1892. It premiered

in New York City at the Standard Theatre on October 2, 1894. Ever since then Brandon Thomas’s

sparkling comedy has been a perennial favourite on the British and American stages for its farcical

and frivolous, but witty, comic style. It concerns two lively Oxford undergraduates Jack Chesney and

Charley Wykeham. Charley loves Miss Kitty Verdun and Charley loves Miss Amy Spettigue. They

invite the ladies to meet Charley's wealthy aunt from Brazil, "where the nuts come from". By calling

off her planned visit at the last minute, the millionaire aunt sends the boys into terrible confusion.

What do they do now? The problem is solved by forcing their lazy, aristocratic undergraduate friend

Fancourt Babberley to impersonate Charley’s Aunt wearing the black satin skirt, bloomers and wig

he has been trying on for a fancy dress party. As "Charley's Aunt", this charming frump is introduced

to the ladies, to Jack's father and to Stephen Spettigue, Amy's guardian. When the real aunt turns up,

classic comic confusion reigns as Babbs, posing as "Charley's Aunt", tricks Spettigue into agreeing

to the marriage of his ward. In typical comic happy ending the real aunt marries Jack's father, Jack

gets Miss Verdun, and Fanny Babs regains the fortune he lost at gambling as well as the girl he loves.

This reading is a light-hearted event similar to the traditional British Christmas pantomime, which also

involves farce and cross-dressing. Come and celebrate the Christmas tradition of pantomime drama.