"If you're going to tell a lie, tell a whopper," yells Dr. Mortimore as events begin to spin deliriously out of control in Ray Cooney's IT RUNS IN THE FAMILY.

 

Inadvertently, he's identifying, in the midst of his panic, the motor that propels all the best farces. Deception, mistaken identities, double-entendres, puns and flapping doors fuel this high octane comedy.

 

Set in the doctor's lounge of a London hospital three days before Christmas, the staff is preparing the annual holiday show. But that is only the sideshow. The real business is a conference of neurosurgeons. As Dr. David Mortimore is preparing his lecture that should guarantee him a knighthood and the hospital some badly needed funds, a former nurse bursts in with the news that their fling some 18 years and 9 months ago made Mortimore a father.

 

The boy (emotionally high strung and under arrest for driving under the influence) is downstairs, desperate to meet his long lost Dad. Now the good doctor really practices what he preaches. Lies pile on lies, as he enlists his colleagues to deceive his wife, his boss, a police sergeant and even his newfound son. Sharp syringes, crashing wheelchairs, squirting seltzer bottles, doctors in nurse drag, and window ledge wrestling matches gear the farce into overdrive.*

Courtsey of Samuel French

*Synopsis courtsey of Carpenter Square Theatre 

 

Special Thanks:

Jerome Westheimer Family Foundation, First National Bank, The Daily Ardmoreite, Gabriel's, Southern Oklahoma Ambulance Service, O G & E, Dr Black & Kimmie Pryor at Mercy Memorial, David Vernon, Mrs Monica Stolfa, My Hang Up, Anne Stolfa-Beard, Ardmore Flowers, Southern Oklahoma Radio Center, Carpenter Square Theatre, Linda Shumaker, Ardmore Regional Park & Complexes, BeBe Bridges, Carmel Jones, Michelin of North America for underwritiong program cost