Charley’s Aunt is a 3-act farce by Brandon Thomas which was first performed in 1892 and has been a perennial favourite of both amateur and professional theatre companies ever since. It has been filmed several times, the most famous being the 1941 Twentieth Century Fox production starring Jack Benny and directed by Archie Mayo.
The play tells the story of two Oxford undergraduates, Charley and Jack, who want to use a visit by Charley’s Brazilian aunt, Donna Lucia, as an occasion to bring their families together in order to propose to their respective girlfriends. When Donna Lucia is delayed, a series of complications forces them to recruit a friend, Lord Fancourt “Babbs” Babberley, to disguise himself as her, with increasingly disastrous consequences.
The role of Babbs/Donna Lucia was originated by actor and producer WS Penley (illustrated) in the 1892 theatrical production, which premiered in Bury St Edmunds before transferring to London. It has been translated into numerous languages, been adapted into an opera by Manuel Fernandez Caballero, and filmed in Britain (a loose 1940 adaptation starring Arthur Askey), the US, India, several European countries, and the USSR.
