Don't Dress for Dinner

Hugely successful comedy completely rewritten by Robin Hawdon from an original play by Marc Camoletti, this played for six years in London's West End before spreading to America and around the English speaking world. In a stylishly converted French farmhouse, Bernard is planning to entertain his chic Parisian mistress for the weekend, whilst his wife is away. Everything is planned, nothing can go wrong.... Until his wife decides not to go away after all, his best friend turns up unexpectedly, the friend has to pretend the mistress is his, the wife is having an affair with the friend, the cook gets mistaken for the mistress, the mistress then has to pretend to be the cook... Still following? Could it all get worse? Well yes actually, but it would take too long to explain here. Suffice to say that the complications and contrivances mount at breakneck speed to an inevitable nuclear conclusion.

Extracts from the reviews of the London and Chicago productions:-

'Hurtling along at the speed of light, this breathtaking farce is a near faultless piece of theatrical invention. Within seconds we are drawn into a delicious web of marital treachery which accelerates with classic symmetry to an all-star denouement.' The Guardian.

'....the labyrinthine twists and turns are liberally sprinkled with jokes, amiably roared to keep everyone giggling... it gives the whole cast the chance to enjoy themselves going over the top.... the performance is a delight.' Daily Telegraph.

'I feared it would be boring-boring, but it isn't-isn't. It's a nifty comedy farce about double adultery and gourmet cooking... I can't think of a better way of forgetting the recession.' Sunday Times.


"I found myself having two of the most rib-tickling hilarious hours I have spent in the theatre in some time. It's amazing what the right combination of smart writing, polished acting and slick direction can do to energize a tired genre.... A text book example of how to create the perfect farce."
Chicago Style Magazine

"The good times are back at the Royal George Theatre. ...a series of rib-rousing strokes. All night long. Better yet, you don't have to suspend your intelligence.... in a comedy of confusion that almost collapses under the weight of duplicity, mistaken identity, and extramarital affairs, but somehow stays in the air like a precarious but well-built souffle."
Chicago Tribune.