A SAMUEL FRENCH, LTD. TITLE

It Runs in the Family

Full-Length Play, Comedy  /  4w, 7m

Ray Cooney

"My glasses steamed up with laughter...A must for the bruised in spirit and the young at heart." - The Sunday Times

It Runs in the Family

Request licence
Get the Script
  • Cast Size
    Cast Size
    4w, 7m
  • Duration
    Duration
    More than 120 minutes (2 hours)
  • SubGenre
    Subgenre
    Farce
  • Audience
    Target Audience
    Adult, Teen (Age 14-18)

Details

Summary
Set in a hospital, It Runs in the Family contains the usual assortment of farcical nuts running in and out of doors mistaking everybody for someone else, as Dr. Mortimore tries to fend off a paternity suit, an ex wife, a punkish son and various other lunatics so that he may, at last, deliver the Ponsonby Lecture in an international conference.
History

It Runs in the Family premiered at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre in Guildford in November 1987 under the direction of Ray Cooney.

Performing Groups
DR. DAVID MORTIMORE
DR. MIKE CONNOLLY
ROSEMARY MORTIMORE
DR. HUBERT BONNEY
MATRON
SIR WILLOUGHBY DRAKE
JANE TATE
SISTER
LESLIE
POLICE SERGEANT
BILL
MOTHER
  • Time Period Present Day
  • Setting The Doctors' Common Room of St. Andrew's Hospital, London. Present day.
  • Features Contemporary Costumes/Street Clothes
  • Duration More than 120 minutes (2 hours)
  • Cautions
    • Mild Adult Themes

Media

"Tickles the funny bones quite shamelessly." - Sunday Express, London

"As in every good farce from Ben Travers to Joe Orton, the location becomes a madhouse filled with an epidemic of unbridled lunacy." - London Financial Times


Music

Song Samples

Ray Cooney's interview for Dave's Gone By

Licensing & Materials

  • Minimum Fee: £70 per performance plus VAT when applicable.

Scripts

Available Formats:
Get the Script

Authors

Ray Cooney

Ray Cooney

Ray Cooney began his theatrical career as a boy actor in Song of Norway at the Palace Theatre in 1946. He played in Dry Rot and Simple Spymen and then began a writing career which, to date, has sent 18 plays to the West End, including One for the Pot, Not Now Darling, Move Ov ...

View full profile

Now Playing