8/31/2004 1:27:00 PM Old Log will host world premiere of new Cooney play
By Suzanne P. Campbell
Reporter
“Tom, Dick and Harry,” a new British farce by Ray and Michael Cooney, will make its world premiere at the Old Log Theater in Excelsior on Sept. 17.
Cooney is a popular British playwright whose previous comedies at the Old Log have included “Out of Order,” “Run for your Wife,” “Funny Money,” and “Caught in the Net.”
“Tom, Dick and Harry” is his first collaboration with his son Michael, a Hollywood scriptwriter, remembered by Old Log patrons as the creator of “Cash on Delivery.”
Reached by phone at his home in Epping Forest, 20 miles outside of London, Ray Cooney talked about the upcoming production. He said the collaboration worked well even though he and his son were on separate continents.
“I had an idea for a play, and when I mapped it out I felt it needed a strong subplot,” Cooney said. “Then I remembered that Michael had started to write something that might work and which had been temporarily put on the shelf.”
Soon the two plots meshed.
According to Cooney, this is his first-ever American premiere. “We won’t open it in the West End until February, because that’s when the cast members I want will be available,” he said.
Cooney added, “Don Stolz wanted to do it sooner. I would probably not have released the first rights to any other company, but I have such admiration for Don and the Old Log Theater. He knows his audiences and loves what he does. I wonder if your readers realize how much he is respected in London?”
Cooney and his wife Linda first visited the Old Log 15 years ago when the theater produced his “Run for Your Wife” as part of their 50th anniversary season. “What Don and his family have achieved with that theater is phenomenal,” said the playwright. “They are unique in the U.S.”
While in Minnesota for that 1989 visit, Cooney was interviewed by WCCO’s Roger Boone and Charlie Erickson. “I’ve seen this same show in London, New York, Rome and Paris,” Cooney said then. “And this Old Log production surpasses them all.”
Cooney, 71, has written 19 plays since he quit school at age 14 to play the young Edvard Grieg in a West End musical about the Norwegian composer. He still acts and directs. “I like to take a part in my own plays so I can experience the audience reaction first hand,” he said. “For ‘Caught in the Net’ I played an elderly roomer. I grew a beard for the production and afterward had to keep it for a while because my wife said it gave me gravitas,” he said with a laugh.
Cooney has been characterized by the British press as the best writer of comedy in the past 50 years. He said that 60 of his plays are presently being staged all over the world.
“Tom, Dick and Harry” centers around three brothers.
Tom and his wife are trying to adopt a baby. They must undergo investigation by the adoption agency to establish that they are of good character.
Tom’s ne’er-do-well brothers, Dick and Harry, do what they can to help. It’s not easy because Dick is a smuggler and Harry is illegally selling cadavers to medical schools.
“There is a wonderful venue in Windsor, called the Theatre Royal, where I have done first readings and preview performances for over 40 years,” said Cooney. “It’s right across from Windsor Castle. We did a three-week preview of ‘Tom, Dick and Harry,’ then did a rewrite.
“Now it’s ready.”
Cooney said he and his wife hope to see the Old Log production in October. “Minneapolis is a wonderful theater center,” he said, “and I love American audiences. In London, you can always tell if there are Americans in the house because you are so good at vocalizing your responses. I think Don would agree with me when I say that we are privileged to be able to earn a living doing something we would probably otherwise do for free.”
“Tom, Dick and Harry” is scheduled to run Sept. 17 through March 27, 2005. Call the theater at 952-474-5951 or 1-800-328-4827 for performance schedules and tickets.
