Sailor Beware
by Philip King and Falkland Cary
From 29th March 2004
To 3rd April 2004
Description
Emma Hornett, a domestic tyrant, domineering, house-proud, self-righteous to a fault, continuously bullies her ferret-fancier husband Henry and his live-in spinster sister, Edie. Worst of all, she is not amused when her precious daughter chooses orphan sailor Albert Tufnell as a prospective husband… Further complications arise for Albert, when due to a misunderstanding, Shirley suspects him of having a flirtation with her bridesmaid, and for the first time poor Albert becomes aware that there is a good deal of her mother in his bride.
Sparks fly and worms turn as they battle it out in this classic comedy!
Production Notes
Play audiences traditionally love to hate a villain. The fearsome Emma Hornett is the central character of tonight’s play, and her niece Daphne clearly believes that people like Emma “get their happiness – making everybody’s life a hell”. However this judgment alone scarcely seems sufficient justification to place her in the same rank as such legendary stage villains as Shakespeare’s Iago or Richard III, the murderously hat-box toting Danny or, more recently, the charmingly disingenuous Tom Ripley, in order to explain the evergreen, long-term popularity of Sailor Beware.
The play was originally performed in 1955, and has survived triumphantly as the staple fair of many theatre companies, whilst much contemporary work of the time is now hardly ever performed. It is certainly true that the morals of the Fifties may, to a modern audience, now seem rather quaint. Perhaps it is the effect of our changed perspective that lends an extra fascination at this distance? However the wonderful comic creations of Emma herself at the heart of the play, her fate-torn sister-in-law Edie, nursing her great sorrow, as well as her archetypal hen-pecked husband and her honest and much-abused prospective son-in-law, that surely account for the play’s enduring fascination.
Whilst enjoying Emma’s excesses and compulsions, can we perhaps, from our modern viewpoint, also see her as something of a victim? As she sees it, she is forced by a non-conforming, though grateful, husband to keep up standards for the whole family, and is therefore trapped in playing a role that she has long ago forgotten the need for. Certainly, her willingness to criticise her own behaviour, when prompted by the strictures of the local Vicar, suggests her eagerness to escape from the straight jacket of her stereotypical conformity – even though the authors fortunately leave us in some doubt as to the likelihood of her actual reformation!
But after all, excessive intellectual analysis of Sailor Beware is really unnecessary. Rather, should we not just enjoy one of the enduring works of the British stage on its own terms – as audiences have done for almost fifty years?
Presented by - The Nonentities (A)
Location - the Main House