Turkey Time (play)

Turkey Time is a farce by Ben Travers. It was one of the series of Aldwych farces that ran nearly continuously at the Aldwych Theatre in London from 1923 to 1933. The story concerns two guests, staying at the Stoatt household for Christmas, who offer shelter to a pretty concert performer left stranded when her employer absconds, leaving his cast unpaid.

The piece opened on 26 May 1931 and ran for 263 performances until 16 January 1932. A film adaptation of the play was made in 1933.

Turkey Time was the ninth in the series of twelve Aldwych farces, and the seventh written by Travers. The first four in the series, It Pays to Advertise, A Cuckoo in the Nest, Rookery Nook and Thark had long runs, averaging more than 400 performances each. The next three were less outstandingly successful, the runs getting shorter with each production: Plunder (1928, 344 performances); A Cup of Kindness (1929, 291 performances); A Night Like This (1930, 267 performances). Turkey Time improved upon the eighth in the series, Marry the Girl (1930), which had managed only 195 performances.

Like its predecessors, the play was directed by Tom Walls, who co-starred with Ralph Lynn, a specialist in playing "silly ass" characters. The regular company of supporting actors included Robertson Hare, who played a figure of put-upon respectability; Mary Brough in eccentric old lady roles; Ethel Coleridge as the severe voice of authority; Winifred Shotter as the sprightly young female lead; and the saturnine Gordon James. This was the last of the Aldwych farces in which Walls appeared on stage. He produced, but did not play in, the last three.

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