About the play

The play was written and first produced in 1938 but is set in about 1910.  It is firmly set in West Yorkshire in the prosperous chapel going middle class at Clecklewyke.  J B Priestley also wrote 'An Inspector Calls' which Playhouse produced a few years ago.  'When We Are Married' is lighter hearted although it pricks the pomposity of some of the leading characters very thoroughly.

It has a cast of 14, 7 men and 7 women.  There is a 15^th character in the cast list in the front but he doesn't actually appear as far as I can work out. 

It's a beautifully constructed proper comedy which will be a joy to rehearse and perform.  We shall do it properly costumed and with good props to set the scene.  We shall need to give it the full sense of place and time, we might need a dialect coach, or enforced watching of Last of the Summer Wine repeats.  It needs a big good cast but I believe the parts are very suitable for Potton Playhouse members.  The audience will love it!   I hope you'll want to be part of 'When we are married'.

 Precis

Three couples, Alderman Joseph and Mrs Maria Helliwell, Councillor Albert and Mrs Annie Parker, and Mr Herbert and Mrs Clara Soppitt are having a bit of a do at the home of the Helliwell's to celebrate the anniversary of their marriages 25 years ago.  All three couples were married on the same morning at Lane End Chapel.  The men are now important characters in the town and the chapel and Alderman Helliwell and Councillor Parker in particular are very proud of themselves.  Herbert Soppitt is seriously hen pecked by his wife.

Alderman Helliwell has  invited the 'Yorkshire Argus' to send a reporter and a photographer to record the anniversary. The reporter, Fred Dyson, is a youngish man and is having difficulty keeping track of the photographer, Henry Ormonroyd, who is about the same age as the three couples and very fond of a pint. 

Nancy Holmes, Alderman & Mrs Helliwell's niece, lives with them.  Nancy is secretly walking out with the new, young, southern, organist at the chapel, Gerald Forbes.  Gerald has been summoned to call as Joseph and Albert intend to sack him for being 'la-di-dah'.  He has also been spotted with a young lady, but Nancy hasn't been recognised as his girl.

The 'do' is stretching the resources of the Helliwell's staff, Mrs Northrop, the cook/domestic, and Ruby Birtle, the maid.  Mrs Helliwell intends to dismiss Mrs Northrop at the end of the evening.  Mrs Northrop is a sociable soul who likes a drop and listens at keyholes.  Ruby is bright and pert and enjoys the mayhem which ensues.

Gerald arrives while the chapel men are finishing tea in the other room and Mrs Northrop warns him that he is to be fired.  He leaves and returns later with a letter which he has, from a clergyman he has met on holiday in North Wales, who used to be the Minister at Clecklewyke Lane End Chapel.  The clergyman was disturbed about something which happened then.  He has written a letter to Gerald explaining what  the problem is.  This clergyman performed the marriage ceremony for the three couples twenty five years ago. 

When Alderman Helliwell and Councillor Albert Parker announce that Gerald's services will no longer be required as organist at the chapel, Gerald drops his bombshell. Gerald produces the letter from the clergyman in which he confesses that when he married the three couples he was not licensed to do so and they are not legally married!  Gerald asks 'Do they want this information making public?'.

Mrs Northrop has overheard this, and when she is also dismissed, by Maria Helliwell who does not know about the crisis at that point and does not give her full payment, she leaves to meet her husband in the pub.  As a result the news gets out and two other people appear.  One of whom is Lottie Grady, who is working at the pub and who has had a 'bit of fun at Blackpool' with one of the gentlemen who 'would have married her if he hadn't been married already'.  The other is the Rev Clement Mercer who is Mrs Northrop's Vicar and is sent to the house in a spirit of mischief by Mrs Northrop's husband.  Mr Northrop doesn't appear.  Mayor of Clecklewyke also turns up but is sent away without ever appearing on stage although he is referenced in the cast list at the front of the copy.

In the course of the evening the three couples reassess their relationships, with the help of Lottie and Henry Ormonroyd who returns from the pub to take the photograph of the happy couples a little the worse for wear!  In the end it is Henry who provides the solution to the problem.