Busybody

Busybody is a comedy by Jack Popplewell (1909-1996)[1].

The original text

A play about a voluble cleaning woman who keeps telling the cops how to mind their business and who steps forward with the right evidence in every pinch. She lives in the basement of the office building she cleans and one night finds a body. By the time the police arrive, there is no body and no evidence.

First performed on the West End at Duke of York's Theatre in 1964. Published by Samuel French in 1965.

Performance history in South Africa

1965: Produced by Hugh Goldie at the Alexander Theatre starring Jane Fenn, Kenneth Baker, Robert Langford, Anne Curteis, Angus Neill, Shelagh Holliday and Shirley Firth. Set by Roy Cooke.

1972: Presented by the Bank Players.

Circa 1980(?): Performed in the Bloemfontein Civic Theatre by the Bloemfontein Repertory Society, directed by George Prosser

Sources

https://www.concordtheatricals.com/p/4703/busybody

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Popplewell

Theatre programme (Alexander Theatre production) held by NELM: [Collection: THEATRE PROGRAMMES]: 2012. 285. 1. 41.

The Rand Daily Mail, 18 February 1965, 15 March 1972.

Personal correspondence and a CV provided by Otto Bohlmann (January, 2020).

Go to ESAT Bibliography

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