Don’t Dress for Dinner

by Marc Camoletti and Robin Hawdon

Venue

BF Community Hall
Dates

June 9 & 10 at 7pm
Duration

Approx. 120 Minutes (Incl 15 Min Intermission)

Bernard is planning a romantic weekend with his chic Parisian mistress in his charming converted French farmhouse, whilst his wife, Jacqueline, is away. He has arranged for a cordon bleu cook to prepare gourmet delights, and has invited his best friend, Robert, along too to provide the alibi. It’s foolproof; what could possibly go wrong? Well… suppose Robert turns up not realizing quite why he has been invited. Suppose Robert and Jacqueline are secret lovers, and consequently determined that Jacqueline will NOT leave for the weekend. Suppose the cook has to pretend to be the mistress and the mistress can’t cook. Suppose everyone’s alibi gets confused with everyone else’s. An evening of hilarious confusion ensues as Bernard and Robert improvise at breakneck speed.

This boulevard comedy was a smash hit in Paris, where it played for over two years, and in London, where it ran for six years at the Apollo and Duchess Theatres. It has since played in theatres all over the USA and the English speaking world and was revived in Chicago and on Broadway at the American Airlines Theatre in 2012. This production was nominated for two Tony awards.

Don’t tell me. I’m your long-lost daughter who’s really a prima ballerina in disguise and I’ve got to spend the night in the piggery with three of your nephews, a herd of pigs and a prize bull?

Er… not quite. I want you to let Robert here share your room over there, so that Suazanne here can have that one over there.

That one is really going to come expensive!

Suzette haggling with Bernard over her role

Our Second Show Gets a Little Adult

So after the success of Is He Dead? as our first show we decided to go a completely different direction for our second show the following year! Well, kind of, Don’t Dress For Dinner was never meant to be the kick-off to our ambitious second season. It wasn’t supposed to happen until the fall of 2011 originally but some things had to be moved around and the show got moved way up to June and four weeks of rehearsal. That wasn’t ideal for sure, but the cast and crew were amazing and brought this hilarious adult comedy to life! This show ended up kicking off our second season and was the first show we ever performed and Belle Fourche Community Hall, which was a fun experience and space we have been going back to ever since. Again after the more family friendly kick-off to community theater in Belle Fourche, having the very next show we did being a comedic sex romp was not conventional, but that just set the tone for BFACT never being one for conventions. The show was also incredibly well received and a favorite amongst many of our patrons and volunteers to this day.