Don't Dress for Dinner

by Robin Hawdon

Comedy / Characters: 3 male, 3 femaleScenery: Interior

This boulevard comedy was a smash hit in Paris, where it played for over two years, and in London, where critical acclaim greeted the Apollo Theatre production. Bernard is planing a weekend with his chic Parisian mistress in a French farmhouse. He has arranged for a cordon bleu cook to prepare gourmet delights, is packing his wife Jacqueline off to her mother's, and has even invited his best friend to provide the alibi. It's foolproof; what could possibly go wrong? Suppose Robert turns up not knowing why he has been invited? Suppose Robert and Jacqueline are secret lovers? What happens if the cook is mistaken for the mistress and the mistress is unable to cook? An evening of hilarious confusion ensues as Bernard and Robert improvise at breakneck speed.

"Hurtling along at the speed of light, [this] breathtaking farce is a near faultless piece of theatrical invention." Guardian.

"Nifty." London Sunday Times

Genres: Plays, Theatre

Paperback

First published June 1, 1992

About the author

Robin Hawdon’s varied career has spanned numerous aspects of the arts. Actor, playwright, novelist and theatre director. Now one of Britain’s most prolific novelists and playwrights, with productions in at least forty countries and twenty languages. (see www.robinhawdon.com).

THE LAND, THE LAND, is his newest and perhaps most topical book - a psychological thriller involving a family's battle to preserve one of Britain's most beautiful landscapes.

NUMBER TEN is quite different. A fast action political thriller in the Lee Child genre, soon hopefully to be seen on Netflix.

SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST is Robin’s third novel and encompasses three of his deepest concerns – the extraordinary impact of science on mankind’s progress, the distorting effect of so much religious and superstitious prejudice on that progress, and the telling of real human stories (in this case three stories, all fundamentally inter-connected).
A RUSTLE IN THE GRASS, his first novel, has now been republished after it was discovered that, with the advent of the digital age, it has attracted an extraordinary list of 5 star reviews on Amazon.
Robin has been married for over forty years, has two daughters and four grand children, and lives between Bath, the South of France and Australia.

Reviews

[Dusty]

very funny.

[Lina]

More like a 3.75 stars, but the play was too enjoyable to lower it down.

[Trent]

I’m acting in a production of this show this fall. Very funny script that is fast paced.

[Debra Robert]

This play is hilarious. It is also difficult to read and preform because many parts are 1 or 2 words and go back and forth extremely quickly. What fun!

[Javier Fernandez]

I'm not buying the byline. Only a spider on speed could weave a web this tangled!

[Lauren Kost]

oh let me IN this show

[Myna Sowell]

I mean, this is no great piece of drama, but if you’re looking for farce, this is it. Campy, naughty, twisty.

[Tiffany Day]

I'm not sure about this one; I kind of found it dull and repetitive... but then I think it might be engaging if performed with a strong cast at a good pace. It's definitely British humor - and it follows that mistaken identity/piled-on lies cover-up trope... It's nothing original, but could potentially still deliver. 2.5 - 3 stars

[Carolyn]

This play was so funny. I'd love to see it live.

[Clare]

Absolutely hysterical. Not sure whether it was to do with the way it was acted, or whether it was the source material itself, but I have not laughed so hard in a long time!