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Ben Travers

BEN TRAVERS

  (1886 - 1990)
Nationality:    English
email:    n/a     Website:    n/a

Literary Agent:    United Agents  

Ben Travers was born in Hendon in 1886 and was sent to Charterhouse in the reign of Queen VictoriA. His school career was a complete failure and was terminated, as he himself asserted, by mutual consent. He then spent several years in commerce for which he displayed very little interest or aptitude, but in 1911 he found more congenial employment in the firm of John Lane, the publisher and founder of the Bodley Head. Virtually all his farces of the twenties and thirties were filmed and other screenplays included POT LUCK, FOREIGN AFFAIRS, LADY IN DANGER and UNCLE SILAS. He wrote five novels, two volumes of autobiography and a book on cricket. During the 1914-18 war he was a Squadron Commander in the RNAS and RAF, and received the Air Force Cross, and in 1939 he rejoined the RAF as Squadron Leader. He was also the Prime Warden of the Worshipful Company of Fishmongers, Vice President of Somerset County Cricket CLub, and President of the Dramatist's Club. In 1976 he was presented with a Special Standard Drama Award for his services to the Theatre, and he received the C.B.E. in the Queen's Birthday Honours. When Ben Travers died in 1980, at the age of 94, the title of his book of cricket reminiscences was changed in characteristic Traver's form, from 94 NOT OUT to 94 DECLARED.

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below is a list of Ben Travers's plays - click on a Play Title for more information

         After You with the Milk         Banana Ridge         Bed Before Yesterday, The         Bit Of A Test, A         Corker's End         Cuckoo In the Nest, A         Cup Of Kindness, A         Dippers, The         Dirty Work         Malacca Linda         Night Like This, A         Nun's Veiling         O Mistress Mine         Outrageous Fortune         Plunder         Rookery Nook         She Follows Me About         Spotted Dick         Thark         Thekla         Turkey Time         Wild Horses
After You with the Milk

Synopsis:
This sophisticated, saucy, fast-moving comedy takes place in the heat-wave summer of 1935 and centres on Dottie, young, attractive and slightly dizzy, whose vocabulary seems devoid of the word 'no'. Her overt kindness and soft-heartedness leads her into a life of turmoil as, in her endeavours to please everyone all of the time, she indulges in several affairs with complicated and desperate results!

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Repertory Theatre, Birmingham     08 May 1980

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Samuel French, London, 1985   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Comedy

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Banana Ridge

Synopsis:
A young man has two possible fathers

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Strand Theatre, London     27 Apr 1938

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Comedy

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Bed Before Yesterday, The

Bed Before Yesterday, The
Alma, a rich but physically far from lovely widow, has had no sexual experience since the sole occasion on her wedding night twenty years ago. She marries impoverished Victor on the understanding that their marriage will be based on friendship. But intervention from Victor's son, his unconventional girlfriend and Alma's free-and-easy cousin warm up her long-cooled fires with unexpected results. Period 1930

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Samuel French, London, 1976   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Comedy

Parts:
Male:  5            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Bit Of A Test, A

Synopsis:
The England cricket team are touring Australia. Pogson the captain is having a hard time keeping leading batsman, Stratton, up to the mark and away from his playboy ways. After the match Stratton invites his girlfriend Sylvia into the changing room. He tells Pogson that he is driving to Sylvia's bungalow in the outback to protect her grandfather from bandits

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
The Aldwych, London     1933

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Farce

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Corker's End

Synopsis:
Bumbling Major Wally Waller must help get back August's stolen jewels

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Guildford     1968

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Samuel French, NY,    

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Comedy

Parts:
Male:  6            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Cuckoo In the Nest, A

Synopsis:
Major Bone and his wife arrive at their daughter's flat where they are going to spend the weekend. their daughter, Barbara and her husband Peter are going to a house-party in the country. Barbara unexpectedly arrives - she was on the train waiting for Peter. Peter had been talking to an exotic looking woman on the platform and had missed the train. She had got of at the next station and had come back home. A telephone call to the garage informs her that Peter and the exotic woman have taken the car and are driving off to Somerset. Barbara and her parents go in pursuit. Peter's car breaks down. He and the woman - the French wife of an M.P. Peter had been asked to escort her to the house-party try to book into an hotel. But there is only one room - so they pretend they are married.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-     1925

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Samuel French Ltd, London   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Farce

Parts:
Male:  7            Female:  6            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Cup Of Kindness, A

Synopsis:
Dubious business man Jim Finch is trying to sell shares to Ernest Ramsbotham and Charlie Tutt but they are having none of it as the last shares they bought ended up being worthless. Charlie wants to marry Ernest's daughter but he is opposed to the marriage so too is Charlie's father Fred. Fred says that if Charlie marries Betty he will cut off his allowance. Charlie says that he will get a job. He goes to work for Jim Finch. The wedding day. Everyone is gathering at the church when the police arrive and arrest Charlie. They are after Jim but he has disappeared - it seems he has been dealing in dodgy shares

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Aldwych Theatre, London     24 May 1929

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Farce

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Dippers, The

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
Based on the novel "the Dippers" by Ben Travers

1st Produced:
Prince's Theatre, Bristol     1921

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Comedy

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Dirty Work

Synopsis:
James Milligan is the senior at a Bond Street jeweler. When a precious diamond goes missing he comes under suspicion.Junior assistant Evie Wynn knows he is innocent and with colleagues she sets out to prove it

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Aldwych Theatre, London     07 Mar 1932

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Farce

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Malacca Linda

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-     1922

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Night Like This, A

Synopsis:
Edgar Pryor runs a gambling establishment. Cora Mellish has run up a huge debt. Pryor takes her necklace as payment - but the necklace does not belong to her but to Mrs Tope. Cora with the help of two friends and a police constable try to get it back

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Aldwych Theatre, London     18 Feb 1930

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Farce

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Nun's Veiling

Synopsis:
Arms dealer Richard Dittling is in a small European country in the midst of a revolution. He is selling arms to one of the leaders of the armed forces. The leader wants him to take the Queen back to England and safety until the revolution is over. She goes dressed as a nun and causes chaos at Richard's home with family and servants.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-     1956

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Samuel French, London, 1956   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Comedy

Parts:
Male:  6            Female:  7            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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O Mistress Mine

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
St James Theatre, London     1936

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Outrageous Fortune

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Winter Garden Theatre, London     1948

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Plunder

Plunder
Mrs Hewlett is a unpopular woman, and suave, international thief Freddy Malone is keen to relieve the nouveau riche lady of her jewellery. In an unexpected twist, his old school chum, DArcy Tuck, also wants to swindle Mrs Hewlett of her wealth, compelling Freddy to enlist his bungling friend as an accomplice in the crafty thievery.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
in "Five Plays" Allen, London, 1977   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Farce

Parts:
Male:  13            Female:  7            Other:  extras

Further Reference:
-

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Rookery Nook

Rookery Nook
Gerald and his cousin Clive are staying at Rookery Nook with various relatives. Gerald's wife has not joined him yet as her mother is ill. That night a young girl, Rhoda, wearing only her pyjamas knocks at the door seeking shelter from her father. they take her in. Of course everyone gets the wrong idea as the boys try to hide the girl and make excuses.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Bodley Head 1923   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Farce

Parts:
Male:  5            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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She Follows Me About

Synopsis:
A harassed vicar has to deal with a bishop who is not all he seems and some mischievous girls

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-     1943

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Samuel French Inc   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Comedy

Parts:
Male:  10            Female:  7            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Spotted Dick

Synopsis:
there has been a jewel robbery - or possibly not - then again. . .

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-     1939

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Samuel French Inc   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Farce

Parts:
Male:  7            Female:  5            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Thark

Thark
Period 1927, a wild night, a sinister butler and plethora of romantic mix ups

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Samuel French, London,    

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Farce

Parts:
Male:  6            Female:  5            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Thekla

Synopsis:
The Roman Empire. Thekla is a native of Iconium and becomes infatuated with a missionary - Paul

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-     1935

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Samuel French Inc   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Comedy

Parts:
Male:  14            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Turkey Time

Synopsis:
Christmas time at the Stoatt household. Besides Edwin and Ernestine Stoatt there is Ernestine's sister Louise and her fiancé David. Max a cousin of the sisters and Max another cousin over from Canada. Ernestine wants them all to go carol singing but Max cannot be found. Mrs Gather arrives she runs a nearby guest house - she accuses one of the men of the house of molesting one of her guests. Ernestine throws her out. All except David go out carol singing. Mrs Gather arrives with Louise in tow. Louise was the guest and cannot pay her bill so as David was kissing her he can have her. It was not David who was kissing her but Max

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Aldwych Theatre, London     26 May 1931

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Samuel French Inc   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Farce

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Wild Horses

Synopsis:
A painting called "Wild Horses" changes hands with great rapidity. Who owns it? Who thinks they own it? And did anybody have the right to sell it on any occasion? Plus that charwoman is no lady. . .

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Manchester: Opera House     18 Aug 1952

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Samuel French Ltd, London   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Farce 3 act

Parts:
Male:  9            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
Wearing - the London Stage 52.242

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