California Suite

Neil’s Simon’s Comedy hit

Thursday 29th March 2007 - Saturday 31st March 2007

Performances at 20.00

Directed by Donna Hughes

Director's Introduction

This flawless bitter-sweet comedy features a delightful quartet of playlets which take place in the Beverly Hills Hotel. Exposing the complex relationships between visitors staying in Rooms 203 and 204, Neill Simon described “Visitors from London” as being “very funny….and for me, the best piece of short form writing I’ve ever done”. Demanding diva, Diana Nichols and her supportive husband Sidney are making their way to the Academy Awards. Their entrance is elegant and tense; sloppy and drunk is how they return. Neither gets what they want from this relationship but both share a special intimacy in loving each other in different ways.

“Visitor from New York” introduces Hannah Warren, a brassy New Yorker who arrives to retrieve her teenage daughter after an unauthorised visit to her ex-husband. William Warren, the ex with a new Californian lifestyle, is determined to remain civil throughout negotiations, but in doing so exposes hidden vulnerabilities in the “lady with attitude”.

Can you love a man who has just cheated on his wife with a drunken hooker? The hilarious “Visitor from Philadelphia” poses just this question when hapless wife, Millie, discovers an inebriated woman in her husband’s hotel bed! You'll experience a warm glow as she moves from housewife to heroine and find yourself routing for this pair to reconcile by the end of the scene.

Should good friends go on holiday together? Not this group! “Visitors from Chicago” sees Beth and Mort Hollender limping into their hotel suite after a game of tennis with Stu and Gert Franklyn. Mort is sure the Franklyns are responsible for everything going wrong on their trip and no one escapes insult or injury as the four go head to head. Scores are settled on all fronts and Gert’s snooping in the Hollender's bathroom sets disaster in motion.

Poster

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Characters