Cahoots Theatre Company Ltd
in association with Jamie Clark Theatre
presents the premiere of
Wodehouse in Wonderland
Starring Robert Daws
Written by William Humble
Directed by Robin Herford
Tour opening at Malvern Theatres on 26 January 2023
Cahoots Theatre Company Ltd in association with Jamie Clark Theatre presents the UK premiere of William Humble’s play Wodehouse in Wonderland, starring Robert Daws and directed by Robin Herford, on a UK Tour which opens at Malvern Theatres on 26 January 2023.
Based on the life and writings of P.G. Wodehouse, Wodehouse in Wonderland takes place in P.G. Wodehouse’s New York State home in the 1950’s. Plum, as he is known to family and friends, is working away at the latest adventures of Bertie Wooster but is interrupted by a young would-be biographer, his adored wife, daughter Snorkles, and his two Pekingese. He shares stories about how Jeeves entered his life, how he became addicted to American soap operas and why he wrote books that were ‘like musical comedies without music’. He sings songs composed by Broadway legends with lyrics written by himself, and entertains the audience with characters such as Bertie Wooster, Jeeves, Lord Emsworth, Gussie Fink-Nottle and the squashily romantic Madeline Bassett…but there’s also a darker story beneath the fun.
Wodehouse in Wonderland features songs by Jerome Kern, George Gershwin, Cole Porter and Ivor Novello.
The production is performed by arrangement with the Wodehouse Estate.
The 2023 Tour will visit Malvern Theatres (26-28 Jan), Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford (2-4 Feb), Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury (6-8 Feb), Theatre Royal Windsor (9-11 Feb), Derby Theatre (13-15 Feb), Key Theatre, Peterborough (16-18 Feb), Exeter Northcott Theatre (24-25 Feb), The Haymarket, Basingstoke (2-4 Mar), Churchill Theatre, Bromley (9-11 Mar), Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham (13-14 Mar), New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich (16-18 Mar), Tivoli Theatre, Aberdeen (22-24 Mar), Queen’s Theatre, Barnstable (6-8 Apr), Alnwick Playhouse (13-15 Apr), Chelmsford Civic (17-19 Apr), York Theatre Royal (20-22 Apr), Octagon Theatre, Yeovil (25-27 Apr) and The Albany Theatre, Coventry (28-29 April).
Robert Daws is well known for his work in television including leading roles in Jeeves and Wooster; John Sullivan’s Roger Roger and Rock and Chips; the British Comedy Award winning Outside Edge; Casualty, Midsomer Murders, Death in Paradise, Poldark, Sick Note, Father Brown, Agatha Raisin and eight series of The Royal as well as the BBC’s murder mystery series, Sister Boniface. With countless stage credits to his name, Robert has most recently been playing Pischik in The Cherry Orchard with Ian McKellen and directed by Sean Mathias. His many BBC Radio portrayals include Chief Inspector Trueman in Trueman and Riley, the long-running police detective series he co-created with writer Brian B Thompson (available on Kobo and Audible). Robert is the author of the best-selling Rock detective novels set in Gibraltar and Spain. He co-presents the popular crime fiction podcast Partners in Crime.
William Humble has written a number of highly-acclaimed films for BBC TV, including the Emmy-Award winning On Giant's Shoulders, with Judi Dench, the BAFTA-nominated Hancock, with Alfred Molina as Tony Hancock, and Frances Barber, and Virtuoso, about the concert pianist John Ogdon, also with Alfred Molina, and Alison Steadman. Other BBC films include Ex, starring Griff Rhys Jones and Geraldine James and Royal Celebration, with Minnie Driver, Leslie Phillips and Rupert Graves. For ITV, William wrote Too Good To Be True, a two-part psychological thriller with Niamh Cusack and Peter Davison and the film Whatever Love Means with Laurence Fox, Olivia Poulet and Richard Johnson. He dramatised Rosie Thomas’s novel Every Woman Knows A Secret, P.D. James’s An Unsuitable Job For A Woman as a six-part series with Helen Baxendale and Annette Crosbie, P.D. James’s The Black Tower as a series with Roy Marsden and Pauline Collins, and Mary Wesley's The Vacillations of Poppy Carew with Tara Fitzgerald and Joseph Fiennes. William’s stage plays include What A Performance, with David Suchet as comedian Sid Field, on tour and at the Queen’s Theatre Shaftesbury Avenue, Facades, with Frances de la Tour as Edith Sitwell and directed by Simon Callow at the Lyric Hammersmith, Fly Away Home with Hywel Bennett, Diana Quick and Roger Lloyd-Pack at the Lyric Hammersmith, Talk To Me with Alan Dobie and Robert Daws at the New End Theatre Hampstead, and Virtuoso with Oliver Ford Davies at the Wolsey Theatre Ipswich. In 2021, William’s one-person stage play The Performer, starring Stephen Fry, was successfully broadcast on Radio 4. He has written several radio plays and two comic novels.
Much of Robin Herford’s early career was involved with Sir Alan Ayckbourn and the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough, first solely as an actor, then also as Associate Director, and finally as Artistic Director from 1986-88. By that time, he had appeared in the original production of more Ayckbourn plays than any other actor. Robin’s most successful production The Woman in Black, which he commissioned and directed in 1987, has now been running in the West End for over 30 years, and has completed 12 UK tours. Directing, and occasionally performing in this play, has taken him around the world. Most recently, Robin directed Barefoot in the Park at The Mill at Sonning. He and Robert Daws have known each other for many years. Robin first directed Robert as Dr Watson in The Secret of Sherlock Holmes at the Duchess Theatre, and most recently playing the lead in a national tour of Ayckbourn’s Ten Times Table. A shared passion for P.G. Wodehouse makes this an irresistible project for them both.
FULL BIOGRAPHIES
ROBERT DAWS
Robert Daws is an actor, crime writer and broadcaster. He is particularly well known for his work in television including leading roles in Jeeves and Wooster, John Sullivan’s Roger Roger and Rock and Chips, the British Comedy Award winning Outside Edge, Casualty, Midsomer Murders, Death in Paradise, Poldark, Sick Note, Father Brown, Agatha Raisin and eight series of The Royal. He has recently played a leading role in the feature film The Piper opposite Elizabeth Hurley and Tara Fitzgerald and he is a regular cast member of the BBC’s new murder mystery series, Sister Boniface.
For the stage his work includes Michael Frayn’s Alarms and Excursions and David Harrower’s Blackbird – nominated Best Actor in the Manchester Evening News Drama Awards. In the West End he has appeared as Dr John Watson in The Secret of Sherlock Holmes, as Geoffrey Hammond in Public Property and as Jim Hacker in Yes, Prime Minister. He has also portrayed Victor Smiley in The Perfect Murder by bestselling crime writer Peter James, and John Betjeman in Christopher Matthew’s Summoned by Betjeman. Robert has most recently been playing Pischik in The Cherry Orchard with Ian McKellen and directed by Sean Mathias.
His many BBC radio portrayals include Arthur Lowe in Dear Arthur, Love John, Ronnie Barker in Goodnight from Him, John Betjeman in New Fame, New Love, Nigel Breezer in the comedy Celebrity Plumber and Chief Inspector Trueman in Trueman and Riley, the long-running police detective series he co-created with writer Brian B Thompson (available on Kobo and Audible). As a writer, Robert is the author of the best-selling Rock detective novels set in Gibraltar and Spain. He also co-presents the popular crime fiction podcast Partners in Crime.
WILLIAM HUMBLE
William Humble has written a number of highly-acclaimed films for BBC TV, including the Emmy-Award winning On Giant's Shoulders, with Judi Dench. Also the BAFTA-nominated Hancock, with Alfred Molina as Tony Hancock, and Frances Barber; and Virtuoso, about the concert pianist John Ogdon, also with Alfred Molina, and Alison Steadman. Other BBC films include Ex, a comedy starring Griff Rhys Jones and Geraldine James; and another comedy, Royal Celebration, with Minnie Driver, Leslie Phillips and Rupert Graves. Also Poppyland directed by John Madden, and Talk To Me, both starring Alan Howard; and Rules of Justice with June Brown.
For ITV, he wrote Too Good To Be True, a two-part psychological thriller with Niamh Cusack and Peter Davison. And the film Whatever Love Means with Laurence Fox, Olivia Poulet and Richard Johnson. He dramatised Every Woman Knows A Secret from the novel by Rosie Thomas, and P.D. James’s An Unsuitable Job For A Woman as a six-part series with Helen Baxendale and Annette Crosbie. He dramatised another P.D. James novel, The Black Tower, as a series with Roy Marsden and Pauline Collins, and Mary Wesley's The Vacillations of Poppy Carew, with Tara Fitzgerald and Joseph Fiennes.
He has also written for Churchill - the Wilderness Years, Poirot, Flambards, Maigret with Michael Gambon, All Creatures Great and Small and Juliet Bravo.
His stage plays include: What A Performance, with David Suchet as comedian Sid Field, on tour and at the Queen’s Theatre Shaftesbury Avenue Facades, with Frances de la Tour as Edith Sitwell and directed by Simon Callow, at the Lyric Hammersmith; Fly Away Home, with Hywel Bennett, Diana Quick and Roger Lloyd-Pack at the Lyric Hammersmith; Talk To Me with Alan Dobie and Robert Daws at the New End Theatre Hampstead; and Virtuoso, with Oliver Ford Davies, at the Wolsey Theatre Ipswich.
In 2021 his one-person stage play The Performer was successfully broadcast on Radio 4 as a two-part drama starring Stephen Fry.
He has written several radio plays and two comic novels: A Tale of Arthur (1967) and The Diary of a Has-been (2016).
ROBIN HERFORD
Robin read Philosophy and English at St Andrews University, and trained as an actor at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.
Much of his early career was involved with Sir Alan Ayckbourn and the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough, first solely as an actor, then also as Associate Director, and finally a stint as Artistic Director from 1986-88. By that time, he had appeared in the original production of more Ayckbourn plays than any other actor, including the enormous 16 version two-hander Intimate Exchanges, performing both in Scarborough and the West End. He is often asked to direct Alan’s plays, and has notched up over 30 productions of his work in this country and abroad.
His most successful production started life in Scarborough. The Woman In Black, which he commissioned and directed in 1987, has now been running in the West End for over 30 years, and has completed 12 UK tours. Directing, and occasionally performing in this play, has taken him to Japan, USA, India, Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand.
He now directs much more than he acts, varying his choice of play and venue as much as possible. Just before lockdown, he directed the World premiere of Stray Dogs, a play about Stalin and the poet Anna Akhmatova at the Park Theatre in London, and last Christmas found him performing The Woman In Black in San Francisco. Most recently he directed Barefoot In The Park at The Mill at Sonning.
He and Robert Daws have known each other for many years. He first directed Robert as Dr Watson in The Secret Of Sherlock Holmes at the Duchess Theatre, and most recently playing the lead in a national tour of Ayckbourn’s Ten Times Table. A shared passion for P.G. Wodehouse makes this an irresistible project for them both.
CAHOOTS THEATRE COMPANY
Fronted by Denise Silvey, Cahoots has been awarded the Stage One Bursary and also the Stage One Start Up Fund in 2016 for the national tour of Dead Sheep.
Current productions include: Musik with Pet Shop Boys, Jonathan Harvey and Frances Barber and Bloody Difficult Women by Tim Walker. She is also co-producer of Panto Online with Peter Duncan, making filmed pantomimes for cinema.
Previous Productions include: Starting Here, Starting Now, Snap, Sick Dictators (Jermyn St Theatre), The Translucent Frogs of Quuup (Edinburgh Festival, Ambassadors Theatre, King’s Head), Deco Diva (59E59 Theater New York) The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber (National Tour), Don’t Call Me Nigel…an Evening with Graham Seed (tour), Burton, Clown in the Moon (Edinburgh and St James’ Theatre), Dead Sheep (Park Theatre and national tour), An Audience with Jimmy Savile (Park Theatre and Edinburgh), Wilde Without the Boy, Rape of Lucrece, The Man Called Monkhouse, Hurricane Michael (Edinburgh), J. B. Priestley’s The Roundabout (Park Theatre and 59E59 Theater New York), Deny Deny Deny (Park Theatre), Ferris and Milnes’ Christmas Cracker (Ambassadors Theatre), Twitstorm (Park Theatre) Twilight Song (Park Theatre) and Looking for John (Edinburgh Festival), Alex Salmond Unleashed (Edinburgh Festival and tour), Makes, Bakes and Outtakes (Edinburgh Festival), The Dame (Park Theatre and National Tour, Late Lunch with Biggins (Edinburgh Festival), My Darling Clemmie (Edinburgh Festival and International Tour), Mark Thompson’s Spectacular Science Show (Edinburgh and National Tour).
Denise is also Artistic Director of Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap and has directed it around the world and the current national tour.
Website: www.cahootstheatrecompany.com @cahootstc
JAMIE CLARK THEATRE SERVICES
After a number of years working with many of the UK’s finest producers, Jamie joined forces with Paul Tyrer at TBO Productions in 2008 and together they produced a host of touring and London productions over the next ten years, including: Alan Ayckbourn's Haunting Julia, a UK Number One tour starring Duncan Preston, Joe McFadden and Richard O'Callaghan; Soho Cinders (both a sell-out concert at The Queens Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue and the Soho Theatre run) - a new musical by Olivier Award winners Stiles & Drewe with Elliot Davis; Rhinestone Mondays, a country music comedy with Shaun Williamson, Faye Tozer, Iain 'H' Watkins and Lyn Paul; Sherlock - The Best Kept Secret, a co-production with West Yorkshire Playhouse directed by Nikolai Foster, written by leading award-winning TV writer Mark Catley; Fings Ain't Wot They Used T'be, directed by multi Award Winning Director Terry Johnson, starring Jessie Wallace and Gary Kemp; September In The Rain written and directed by John Godber, starring John Thomson and Claire Sweeney; The Busker's Opera (based on John Gay's The Beggar's Opera) by Dougal Irvine, directed by Lotte Wakeham at The Park Theatre; April In Paris (UK Tour) written and directed by John Godber, starring Shobna Gulati and Joe McGann; The A-Z of Mrs P starring Isy Suttie and Frances Ruffelle at The Southwark Playhouse; Harvey at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket, starring James Dreyfuss, Maureen Lipman and David Bamber, directed by Lindsay Posner, Madame Rubinstein at The Park Theatre, starring Miriam Margolyes and Frances Barber; Deathtrap starring Paul Bradley and Jessie Wallace; Son Of A Preacher Man, directed by Craig Revel-Horwood, Pieces Of String at Colchester Mercury Theatre (nominated at the UK Theatre Awards 2018 as Best New Musical), and many more. They were associate producers on the highly successful UK touring franchise of Peter James thrillers, and they created and produced the annual London Festival of Cabaret for four years from 2014.
In 2018, Jamie was asked to join Adam Spiegel Productions as Head Of Touring, and he created and managed tours for Motown The Musical, The Mousetrap, Quiz, Once The Musical and more.
In 2020, Jamie created Jamie Clark Theatre to concentrate on his own projects alongside continuing to work with many of theatre’s leading producers and practitioners.
Following the enforced pandemic inactivity(!), in 2022, Jamie bounced back with his production of Dracula – One Man’s Search For The Truth, starring James Gaddas, a hugely successful 36 date UK tour.
He is now developing a number of productions into 2023 and beyond.
Aside, Jamie has regularly been asked to speak on the subjects of UK theatre touring, producing and the state of the industry at many UK Theatre conferences, provide guest analysis for the Mercury Musical Development Company, has been invited as a judge for the S&S Awards and more.
Website: http://www.jamieclarktheatre.com