Pete and Dud: Come Again (London play about Dudley Moore and Peter Cook)

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< Up	Life / Entertainment / Theatre / Pete And Dud
Guide to the play "Pete and Dud: Come Again"


Sections:	Introduction
	Main characters
	Story outline
	Dudley Moore's films
	Vocabulary / background notes
	Suitability
	Further information
	Links

INTRODUCTION

This page is a brief guide to the play "Pete and Dud: Come Again". The London opening was at the The Venue (5 Leicester Place, near Leicester Square) on 2 March 2006. The show is running until 22 April 2005.

Come and see a performance soon! Otherwise you may never find the answer to the rather important question:
"Oh when will it be, this end of the world of which you have foretold?"

The Venue theatre, next to the Prince Charles Cinema
(just off the north side of Leicester Square)

Peter Cook (left) and
Dudley Moore (right)

MAIN CHARACTERS

Dudley Moore: a British comedian (played by Kevin Bishop)
Peter Cook: a British comedian (played by Tom Goodman-Hill)
Jonathan Miller: a British comedian (played by Colin Hoult, who also plays several other smaller roles)
Alan Bennett: a British comedian (played by Fergus Craig, who also plays several other smaller roles)
Tony Ferguson: a fictitious 1980's TV chat show presenter - a cross between Terry Wogan and Russell Harty (played by Alexander Kirk)

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STORY OUTLINE

Early success with
"Beyond the Fringe"

Pete and Dud:
beer-drinking philosophers

Peter Cook died in 1995
(Dudley Moore died in 2002)

The play is based on the life story of the British comedian Dudley Moore, concentrating on his partnership with fellow comedian Peter Cook. This is told through a fictitious TV chat show in a television studio in London in 1982.

Dudley Moore was born in 1935 in a working class family in the East End of London in an area called Dagenham. As a child he was often in hospital because of a problem with his foot and was teased because he was short. He had a talent for music - he obtained an organ scholarship at Magdalen College (part of Oxford University) and afterwards performed as a jazz pianist. From 1960-62 he joined Alan Bennett, Jonathan Miller and Peter Cook in a comedy show called Beyond the Fringe which was very successful in the UK. Dudley and Peter went on to create a comic partnership in the TV series Not Only ... But Also: the most popular characters created in this programme were a pair of beer-drinking men named after the actors themselves (Pete and Dud). They had further success playing the foul-mouthed characters Derek and Clive. However, by this time difficulties were emerging in the relationship between the two. Dudley went on to star in several Hollywood films: his most famous role was in the film Arthur. Peter Cook died in 1995 (aged 57), and Dudley Moore died in 2002 (aged 66).

As well as learning about Dudley and Peter's lives and their relationship, you get the chance to see performances of some of their most famous sketches.

	Complete Beyond the Fringe [Box set] (CDs) Starring: Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, Alan Bennett, Jonathan Miller Label: Emi Date: October 1996		The Best of Peter Cook and Dudley Moore [1965] (DVD) Starring: Peter Cook, Dudley Moore Studio: BBC Date: September 2003
	Bedazzled [1967] (DVD) Starring: Peter Cook, Dudley Moore Studio: Second Sight Films Ltd Date: July 2005		Derek And Clive Get The Horn [1979] (DVD) Starring: Peter Cook, Dudley Moore Studio: Universal Pictures Video Date: October 2000
	Come Again (CD) Artists: Derek and Clive (Peter Cook, Dudley Moore) Label: Virgin Chattering Date: October 1994		Peter Cook - A Posthumerous Tribute (DVD) Studio: Sony Bmg Date: March 2003

DUDLEY MOORE'S FILMS

Dudley Moore starred in a number of successful films, including 10 (1979), Arthur (1981), Six Weeks (1982) and Arthur 2: On the Rocks (1988)

10 [1979] (DVD)
Starring: Dudley Moore, Julie Andrews, Bo Derek
Studio: Warner Home Video
Date: June 1999

Arthur [1981] (DVD)
Starring: Dudley Moore, Liza Minelli, John Gielgud
Studio: Warner Home Video
Date: June 1999

VOCABULARY / BACKGROUND NOTES

There are many references to people from the 60's, 70's and 80's. You may want to check if you can recognise them all - if not, you can look up further details using Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org) or the Internet Movie Database (http://www.imdb.com):

Doris Stokes (US medium and author) ; Michael Fagan (man who broke into the Queen's bedroom) ; Patrick Moore (untidily dressed British astronomer) ; Michael Foot (untidily dressed leader of the British Labour Party); Worzel Gummidge (British TV character: a scarecrow) ; Margaret Thatcher (British Prime Minister) ; Boy George (British pop star) ; Burt Reynolds (US actor) ; Dustin Hoffman (US actor) ; Harold Macmillan (British Prime Minister) ; Jack & Jackie Kennedy (US President & First Lady) ; Haile Selassie (Ethiopian king) ; Mahatma Gandhi (Indian leader) ; Diahann Carroll (American actress and singer) ; Norman Rossington (British actor) ; John Lennon (British pop star: one of the Beatles) ; David Frost ; E. L. Wisty ; Sophia Loren ; Greta Garbo ; Nana Mouskouri ; Nicholas Parsons (British game show presenter, famous for "Sale of the Century") ; Raquel Welch (US actress and sex symbol, who was in the film Bedazzled with Peter Cook and Dudley Moore) ; Ursula Andress (Swiss actress and 1960's sex symbol) ; Charlton Heston (US actor: played Moses in "The Ten Commandments") ; Richard Branson (British entrepreneur: founder of Virgin Records) ; Harold Pinter (British playwright) ; Tom Jones (Welsh singer, famous for the song "It's Not Unusual") ; Larry Hagman (American actor, famous as "J.R." in the TV soap Dallas) ; Norman Tebbit (British politician)

Some other expressions used which may not be familiar to everyone:

Places: Dagenham (Dudley grew up on a council estate there, in East London); Weston-super-Mare (town in Somerset, south-west England) ; Shepherd's Bush (an area of West London, where the BBC has its headquarters) ; Hampstead (area of North London) ; Devon (a region of south-west England) ; Cambridge (university town in East England), Beverley Hills (area of Los Angeles in the US) ; Grenada (Caribbean island) ; Canberra (city in Australia)

UK theatrical references: The Edinburgh Festival (a major arts festival in Scotland each August) ; The West End (London's theatrical area) ; Royal Variety Performance (an annual variety show in front of the British king/queen) ; Saturday Night at the London Palladium (a former popular British TV series based on variety acts)

Ronnie Scott's is a famous jazz club in London's Soho area.
Gipsy Creams are a type of chocolate biscuit with a chocolate cream filling.
TCP is a US brand of antiseptic (the song Respect is originally by Otis Redding).

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SUITABILITY

English: There is a lot of dialogue. Speech is quite fast and contains a lot of jokes and slang expressions. Dudley's way of speaking may be a little difficult for some non-native English speakers. Suited mainly to people who are native or advanced English speakers.
Age: Suitable for adults. Those who remember the 1960's may find it particularly interesting, but it can also be enjoyed by younger adults.
Warnings: Contains swearing and jokes about sex and religion.
Cultural knowledge: It may help if you have an interest in British / US popular culture in the period 1960-1982.
Music: Some piano music (but not a musical)

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FURTHER INFORMATION

Official website for the play: http://www.petedud.com

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LINKS

British comedy: Life/Entertainment/Comedy
British theatre: Life/Entertainment/Theatre
British films: Britain/Films
Events in the UK: Ideas/Events

Home page: Home

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