Press Release: Charley’s Aunt
It has been a very long while since we at Metro have had the confidence to set a re-opening date for the final production of our 57th season – we have missed you!
With COVID -19 protocols being continually updated and implemented, and safety for all our top priority, Metro Theatre is thrilled to raise the curtain for Charley’s Aunt on stage September 24 – October 17, 2020. Written by Brandon Thomas, edited by Paul Thain, and directed by Alison Schamberger, this well-loved century old British comedy plays on the trope of a ridiculous person impersonating a serious one.
In short: Charley’s aunt isn’t Charley’s aunt.
Jack Chesney and Charley Wykham, two upperclass, gimmick-prone Oxford students, find themselves “soft-hearted” with love. Both plan to propose. But since their Victorian-era girlfriends won’t stay in Charley’s room without a chaperone, their success depends on the appearance of Charley’s aunt, Donna Lucia Delores, a wealthy widow from Brazil (as one of the most famous line in the play states, “where the nuts come from”).
Of course, when Donna Lucia sends news of a late arrival, the boys improvise. Their equally lovestruck friend, Babbs, happens to be trying on a woman’s costume for his theatre class. Poor timing strikes, and Babbs finds himself reluctantly impersonating Donna Lucia as a lineup of unexpected visitors, from money-seeking suitors to the real Donna Lucia herself, appear, weaving an increasingly complicated network of pseudo-relationships.
“The famous university song, “Let us rejoice, therefore/ While we are young” encapsulates the mood of Charley’s Aunt – a coyly flirtatious play about young people in love trying to circumvent the constraints of Victorian society. It is very much a play of its time; chaperones, letters of permission to marry and audience sympathy for a son of the aristocracy who cannot pay his champagne bill. A comedy of situations and society, slapstick, a romp of wit, exaggerated manners, and eccentric character that does not show its age, is indeed the spirit we hope to maintain in the current production of Charley’s Aunt. ” Alison Schamberger, Director.
Tickets from $30 (includes GST) can be reserved by calling the Box Office 604 266 7191 or PURCHASE TICKETS
Audience Advisory: Charley’s Aunt is suitable for all ages – respecting this piece shared the prejudices of the Victorian century. You are welcome to call the Box Office 604 266 7191 for more details.
Metro Theatre is a non-profit theatre company, dedicated to promoting and developing theatre arts.
This is our 57th continuous season of bringing laughter, intrigue and surprise to live audiences. CHARLEY’S AUNT is our 523rd show.
The opportunity arrives in the form of a projected visit from the eponymous aunt: she can fill the required chaperone role. But wait: she telegraphs that she will be delayed, so what to do since the girls are about to arrive? The two swains dragoon a friend, Lord Fancourt Babberly , into donning a dress and wig to impersonate the aunt, Donna Lucia, a wealthy widow from Brazil (“Where the nuts come from,” in the play’s most famous line). Babbs, as he is known to his friends, must then navigate both the demands of an impromptu drag performance and burgeoning plot complications. 
Enter the girls: Kitty Verdun in love with Jack; Amy Spettigue, in love with Charley; and, in the second act, Ela Delahay, in love with Babbs. They are bubbly, giddy, and filled to the brim with girlish glee.
The stage is set for lots of chases, scenes of mistaken identity, conversations at crossed purposes and wildly improbable coincidences – all important elements for a classic farce. 
