When we are Married by J B Priestley

Click to enlarge

6th to 8th March 1997

Programme Cover

CAST & CREW

Director/Producer - Paul Heyworth

Ruby Birtle - Claire Heyworth

Gerald Forbes - Michael Broadbent

Mrs Northrop - Margaret Jones

Nancy Holmes - Heidi Metcalfe

Fred Dyson - Graham Brindle

Henry Ormonroyd - Russell Atkinson

Alderman Joseph Helliwell - Harold Eastham

Maria Helliwell - Susan McKno

Councillor Albert Parker - Jeff Berry

Herbert Soppitt - Ian Murray

Clara Soppitt - Joanne Ingham

Annie Parker - Jane Collyer

Lottie Grady - Millie Goodenough

Rev. Clement Mercer - Bob Collins

Production Team

Prompt - Barbara Williams

Stage Manager/Props - Duncan McKno, Sylvia Atkinson

Make up & Hair - Millie Santus & Carole Brindle

Set design & construction -

Norman Goodenough, Anne Wilmer, Gill Watson

Lighting - Paul Santus

Sound - Bill Nuttall

THE PLAY

John Boynton Priestley (1894-1984) was pre-eminently a dramatist and a novelist. Many of his works have become 20th century literary classics, among them 'The Good Companions', 'Angel Pavement', 'Lost Empires', 'When We are Married', 'An Inspector Calls' and 'Time and the Conways'. But he was undoubtedly the most versatile writer of his time, producing essays, short stories, verse, literary criticism, social histories, travel books and film scripts, as well as an opera libretto and an autobiography. He was also a practitioner in, and an enthusiast for, painting and music.

Away from the arts Priestley played many roles as a political activist and commentator; a campaigner for nuclear disarmament and public lending right; a cultural ambassador; and a student of time and of dreams. He once, memorably, became an actor in one of his own plays and stood as a Parliamentary candidate in the 1945 General Election. It may be argued that in literary, social and political terms he was very much 'a man for all seasons'.

Written in 1938, the play centres around Alderman & Mrs Helliwell, Councillor & Mrs Parker and Mr & Mrs Soppitt, three couples all celebrating their silver wedding anniversary. The festivities end abruptly when Gerald Forbes, the church organist, announces that the couples were not actually married at all as the Parson who married them was not, in fact, authorised to do so.

Their problems didn't end there though.

The arrival of the Mayor, the housekeeper, a vicar, a newspaper reporter and a drunken photographer all add greatly to the confusion. The mayhem is completed when a barmaid by the name of Lottie arrives with claims that Alderman Helliwell had promised to marry her when they had a dalliance in Blackpool.

However, as in all good farces, everything eventually worked out well.

The couples discover that although the Parson hadn't married them, the registrar had and they were properly married after all and hat not been "Living in Sin" for 25 years

And the other characters?

Well I'm sure they lived happily ever after too!