What the Butler Saw

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"What the butler saw" is a phrase referring to voyeurism and has been used as the title for numerous works.

A famous example is a mutoscope[1] reel by this name[2], which provides an early example of erotic films and dates from the early 1900s. It shows a woman partially undressing in her bedroom, as if some voyeuristic "butler" was watching her through a keyhole.

There have also been two plays and subsequent films.

What the Butler Saw is a farce by Edward Parry and Frederick Mouillot (1905)

Subtitled: Farcical Problem 3a

The original text

A farce about a married man who pretends to be single while his wife is away in America.

First performed as When the Wife's Away at the Theatre Royal Dublin on 6 March 1905, as The Absence of Mrs Barrington at the Grand Theatre, Southampton on 28 June, 1905, and as What the Butler Saw in London at Wyndham's Theatre on 2 August, 1905.

Translations and adaptations

Filmed as What the Butler Saw in 1924 by George Dewhurst, Edward Mouillot, and Edward Parry.

Sources

J.P. Wearing. 2013. The London Stage 1900-1909: A Calendar of Productions, Performers, and Personnel. Scarecrow Press (2nd, revised edition):pp. 251-2[3]

What the Butler Saw is a farce by Joe Orton (1969)

The original text

It premièred at the Queen's Theatre in London on 5 March 1969. It was Orton's final play and the second to be performed after his death, following Funeral Games the year before. The play consists of two acts, and revolves around a Dr. Prentice, a psychiatrist attempting to seduce his attractive prospective secretary, Geraldine Barclay. His wife, however, is also being seduced and blackmailed by a Nicholas Beckett. She therefore promises Nicholas the post as secretary, which adds further confusion.

Performance history in South Africa

Presented by Don Hughes Productions at the President Theatre, Plein street, Johannesburg. Directed by Aubrey Berg ? (Year unknown).

Staged at The Space (Cape Town) in 1973, directed by Brian Astbury in his directorial debut, with Phillip Boucher, Bill Flynn, Ronald France, Christopher Prophet, Maralin Vanrenen and Jacqui Singer. John Nankin was the designer and the stage manager was Neville Burgess.

In 1979 a Company of Four production was directed by Leonard Schach featuring Keith Grenville, Grethe Fox, Diana Allen, Sean Taylor, Henry Goodman, Icky Kurgan. It was performed in the Concert Hall, Baxter Theatre.

PACT July 1991 at the Alexander Theatre.


Translations and adaptations

Sources

Wikipedia [4].

Theatre programme (Don Hughes Productions) held by NELM: [Collection: TUCKER, Percy]: 2001. 20. 1. 1. 569.

Barrow, Brian & Williams-Short, Yvonne (eds.). 1988. Theatre Alive! The Baxter Story 1977-1987.

Astbury, 1979.

Invitation to Barney Simon to PACT production, 1991, held by NELM: [Collection: SIMON, Barney]: 1995. 11. 8. 430.


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