You Never Can Tell
By George Bernard Shaw
SNT 31.7.1971
Prunella Scales/Denys Hawthrone/Freddie Jones
64K
You Never Can Tell is an 1897 four-act play by G. Bernard Shaw that debuted at the Royalty Theatre. It was published as part of a volume of Shaw's plays entitled Plays Pleasant.
The play was revived at the Coliseum Theatre in Aberystwyth, Wales, in June 2011. The play had been performed there in 1911 exactly a century earlier.
The play is set in a seaside town and tells the story of Mrs Clandon and her three children, Dolly, Phillip and Gloria, who have just returned to England after an eighteen-year stay in Madeira.
The children have no idea who their father is and, through a comedy of errors, end up inviting him to a family lunch. At the same time a dentist named Mr Valentine has fallen in love with the eldest daughter, Gloria. However, Gloria considers herself a modern woman and claims to have no interest in love or marriage.
The play continues with a comedy of errors and confused identities, with the friendly and wise waiter, Walter (most commonly referred to by the characters as "William," because Dolly thinks he resembles Mr Shakespeare), dispensing his wisdom with the titular phrase "You Never Can Tell."
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Replies
Thanks, Rick. Looking forward to this play.
Mike
Thanks, Rick!