Charley's Aunt: A Play

by Brandon Thomas

Two students at Oxford force their rascally friend and fellow student to pose as an aunt from Brazil. The play was first performed at the Theatre Royal, in February 1892. It broke all historic records for plays of any kind, with an original London run of 1,466 performances.

Genres: Plays, Classics, Drama, 19th Century, Theatre, British Literature, Victorian

112 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1892

About the author

Walter Brandon Thomas was an English actor, playwright and songwriter, best known as the author of the farce Charley's Aunt.

Born in Liverpool to a family with no theatrical connections, Thomas worked in commerce, and as an occasional journalist, before achieving his ambition of becoming an actor. After a succession of minor roles, he became increasingly sought after as a character actor. He also wrote more than a dozen plays, the most celebrated of which, Charley's Aunt (1892), broke all historic records for plays of any kind, with an original London run of 1,466 performances and numerous subsequent productions all around the world, film and musical theatre adaptations.

Although Thomas never repeated the prodigious success of Charley's Aunt, he maintained a career as an actor and dramatist until his death, acting mostly in comedy, but with occasional serious roles in the plays of Shakespeare and others.

Reviews

[Katie Lumsden · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very funny and surprisingly sharp. I really enjoyed this one.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Victober Live Play Reading 2024 in the books! This play is hilarious!

[Darryl Friesen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely HILARIOUS!!! Another “reading theatre” Victober highlight with Kate Howe’s Patreon group! This simply MUST become an annual Victober tradition, it’s such a hoot!!!

[Chelsea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely hilarious! Thoroughly enjoyed listening to this play being read aloud in our bookclub. "... from Brazil, where the nuts come from!"

[Radwa]

المسرحية كوميدية بامتياز
تحولت إلى أفلام عديدة

منها فيلم Charley's Aunt (1925)
بطولة سيد شابلن أخو شارلي شابلن

وفيلم أخر بنفس العنوان عام 1941
وهو أفضلهم من وجهة نظري

وكذلك فيلم (سكر هانم) المصري
بطولة الرائع عبد المنعم إبراهيم

[Stephanie]

Utterly delightful!

[Madhulika Liddle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brandon Thomas’s Charley’s Aunt is a play I’ve heard about often—it’s gone down in classic theatre lore pretty much like The Mousetrap: a phenomenal success, a dream run (1,466 performances) when it opened in London in 1892. It’s been enacted on stage countless times, all the way from small town theatre companies to Broadway. It’s been adapted for TV and cinema, with everybody from Sydney Chaplin (half-brother of Charlie) to Roddy McDowell, Jack Benny and Danny La Rue playing the central character, the eponymous (and faux) Charley’s Aunt.

The play, which is in three acts, is set in an Oxford college. Two equally penurious friends, Jack Chesney and Charley Wykeham, have fallen in love—respectively—with Kitty Verdun and Amy Spettigue; Amy’s uncle, Stephen Spettigue, is Kitty’s guardian. The two young men are desperate for a chance to meet (and propose to) their respective beloveds before Mr Spettigue takes the two girls off to Scotland. But social norms being what they are, they can’t hope to meet the girls without a proper female chaperone. Charley happens to mention that his millionaire aunt from Brazil, Donna Lucia D’Alvadorez (whom he’s never seen) is due to arrive in time for lunch—so Jack, the brainy one, decides to rope Charley’s aunt to be chaperone. An invitation is sent off to the girls to come and meet the aunt…

…but a last-minute telegram from the aunt to say she won’t come for a few days yet threatens to put paid to the young men’s plans. Just then, another friend of Jack and Charley’s, Lord Fancourt ‘Babbs’ Babberley, comes by to snaffle some champagne—he’s entertaining friends for lunch—and, in the process, informs Jack and Charley that in the amateur theatrics that’ll be part of lunch, Babbs will play a woman. He even tries out his costume—and that gives Jack a brainwave: Babbs will play Charley’s Aunt. Much mayhem ensues as a reluctant (and inept) Babbs is forced into pretending to be a woman, and ends up being proposed to (and not by one, but two gentleman).

I liked this play a lot: it was hilarious, not just in the farcical physicality of it (which of course might be slapstick at times), but also in the dialogue. Sample this one:

Sir Francis: “Donna Lucia, do you know what a man longs for when he’s lonely—desolate and wretched?”
Lord Fancourt: “A drink?”

There are some gaps (most glaringly, what happened to the people Babbs was supposed to be entertaining? We never hear of them afterwards), but that’s minor. As farce, as a good comedy-and-romance, this one’s loads of fun.

[Sumit Banerjee · Rating 4 out of 5]

A classic fun farce that has quick witty dialogue between the characters.

The setup is simple: A non-arrival, two young men madly in love and an impersonation for the ages.

A quick, fun read if anyone is in the mood for shits and giggles.

[Vojtěch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vtipné od začátku do konce. Po dlouhé době divadelní hra, která mě bavila, a doufám, že ji jednou spatřím zahranou naživo.

[C.A. Cunningham · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are a few funny moments but it is hard for a working class boy like me to sympathize with upper middle class Oxford students.

[vicky · Rating 4 out of 5]

fun!

victorian confusion/rage durch cross-dressing ein wenig zu aktuell leider

[Dayna Cheatham · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’d never heard of Charley’s Aunt until I read Mark Twain’s Is He Dead? Charley’s Aunt featured prominently in the afterword of Is He Dead?, and naturally, after reading all of that backstory, I had to read the play (I’m nothing if not consistent when authors dangle references to other books in front of my nose).

Is He Dead? and Charley’s Aunt were both written in the late nineteenth century and prominently feature a man cross dressing (and not entirely successfully). Of the two, Charley’s Aunt is the funnier play, and it’s easy to see why it was a success on stage.

Two college students are desperate to spend time with two young women before they leave town. The students settle on a perfect solution: As Charley’s aunt – whom he’s never met – is coming to town, she can chaperone them. When Charley’s aunt is delayed, another student dresses up as her.

The story is funny in places with some great mistaken identity and other sight gags. It nicely weaves together, and the ending pays off. It’s a good play, but I’m not entirely surprised that it’s somewhat faded to obscurity. While there’s nothing outright offensive about it, it feels dated. This is doubly so given the amount of movies and films that deal with men dressing up as women (The Birdcage being one of my favorites). Nothing about Charley’s Aunt makes it stand out from the (somewhat crowded) herd – but I wouldn’t mind seeing it performed. Recommended.

[Bettie · Rating 3 out of 5]

blurb - Charley Wykeham and Jack Chesney, undergraduates at Oxford University, need a chaperon so they can entertain Amy Spettigue and Kitty Verdun, the niece and ward of Stephen Spettigue, an Oxford solicitor. When Charley receives word from his guardian that his aunt, Donna Lucia d’Alvadorez, a rich widow from Brazil ("where the nuts come from") whom he has never met, is coming to visit him, they invite Amy & Kitty to lunch to meet her. But when the aunt's visit is delayed they persuade their friend Lord Fancourt Babberly to impersonate her. Wiki sourced

[J. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent play. Witty and Funny. Reminds you of something Oscar Wilde might have written. This jolly story takes place among the beautiful spires of Oxford, around 1880. Once you start reading it you cannot put it down, and have to finish it in one sitting. One of the few works in a long time that made me laugh out loud.

[Ed · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute story of two boys who have a third boy dress up as an aunt to chaperone their visit with two girls. Various men fall for the aunt and her millions and hilarity ensues. Somewhat overwritten by today's standards, but still worth a read.

[Gabriela · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you want to read a farce, this is a pretty good one. I did the sound design for my college's production, and it was pretty fun to do the historical research. But, as far as reading goes, it's relatively entertaining.

[Angela · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely love this play. It is a great mix of comedy, romance, mistaken identities, and simply hilarious dialogue. Almost as fun to read as it is to see on stage!

[Gemma · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was some of the most fun research I have ever done. But, like any good play, I know it's WAAAYYYY better on stage than on the page.

[Kathleen Danell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brazil, where the nuts come from. A fun period piece - a play - a farce - a comedy of situations and society. A guy dressed up as Charley's Aunt, what a romp!

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very polite slapstick sex comedy. This should be lots of fun to do next year (sly yet still shameless plug for next season - perhaps not so sly).

[Tabitha · Rating 2 out of 5]

Funny but long-winded. I wish I could say more than that, but it's just not that great in my estimation. Has a lot of potential as long as you can trim it down.

[Molly · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had the pleasure of seeing this performed at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis and it was absolutely hilarious. Really a delightful play.

[Šárka · Rating 5 out of 5]

Postava Lorda Fancourta Babberleyho/Charleyovy tety je naprosto geniálně napsaná. Celkově je hra vtipná a vážně dobře napsaná.

[Oran de Baritault · Rating 5 out of 5]

This play is hilarious!

[Julie K · Rating 5 out of 5]

very funny book :)

[Shannyboo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I saw the play ages ago, and when I happened upon it at the library, I just couldn't pass it up. Almost as delightful to read as it was to see. I'd LOVE to see it again.

[Kathleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This play was extraordinarily popular in the 1890s so I read it as part of my research for my novel I'm planning to write.

[Mac Colley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mayhem and mix-up = great fun. I love every bit of this play, even it's pat ending.

[Ivi · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,6*