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*Pictures from a British production of "Out of Order" by Ray Cooney

If there is one form of theatre guaranteed to delight audiences of all ages, all tastes and all nationalities, then it must be the “Great British Farce”! If there is one contemporary playwright who simply excels in the art of writing the Great British Farce, then it must be Mr. Ray Cooney.

"Run for Your Wife"; "Funny Money"; "One for the Pot"; "Not Now Darling"; "Two Into One"; "Why Not Stay For Breakfast" and "Move Over Mrs Markham", are just a few of the astonishing number of seventeen farces Ray has presented in London’s West End, with huge success.

If one had to choose just one of Ray Cooney’s farces to sum-up his brilliance as a farceur, then surely there is no finer example than "Out of Order". All the ingredients of true farce are included. Unfaithful husbands caught with their trousers down; cuckolded husbands (and wives!) arriving at the wrong moment, rushing in and out of bedrooms and just missing pretty mistresses in their underwear; an innocent sidekick; a bewildered hotel manager caught in the middle of it all, an elderly waiter making money from it all and even a dead body that is not a dead body - but who’s to know!

"Out of Order" enjoyed a long run in London’s West End at the Shaftesbury Theatre and became one of Ray Cooney’s most successful plays, performed around the world in many languages. Proof of its class and pedigree came when the play was awarded the prestigious Laurence Olivier Award as Best New Comedy in 1991.

Indeed, a typical day in the life of a suave and successful man and a Junior Minister in the Lib-Con coalition Government, which is what our hero, Richard Willey, is! The storyline is simple: can our hero and his beautiful mistress, Miss Jane Worthington, an attractive young lady who works as a secretary to the Leader of the Opposition, get away with spending a naughty night in a smart London hotel in the company of a dead body hanging out of their room window without anyone knowing ?! Who will find them out? Will it be Mrs. Willey or Mr. Worthington or the Hotel’s Manager ?!

The action of the play takes place in Suite 648 of the Westminster Hotel, London.