Ben Travers was an English writer. His output includes more than 20 plays, 30 screenplays, 5 novels, and 3 volumes of memoirs. He is best remembered for his long-running series of farces first staged in the 1920s and 1930s at the Aldwych Theatre. Many of these were made into films and later television productions.
Travers in 1975
Inspirations to the young Travers: clockwise from top left: W G Grace, Ranjitsinhji, Sarah Bernhardt, Lucien Guitry
Yvonne Printemps starred in Travers's 1936 O Mistress Mine
Scene from The Dippers, 1922
The Aldwych farces were a series of twelve stage farces presented at the Aldwych Theatre, London, nearly continuously from 1923 to 1933. All but three of them were written by Ben Travers. They incorporate and develop British low comedy styles, combined with clever word-play. The plays were presented by the actor-manager Tom Walls and starred Walls and Ralph Lynn, supported by a regular company that included Robertson Hare, Mary Brough, Winifred Shotter, Ethel Coleridge, and Gordon James.
Aldwych company in Thark (1927). From left: Mary Brough, Ralph Lynn, Winifred Shotter, Robertson Hare, Tom Walls, Ethel Coleridge and Gordon James
The Aldwych Theatre today
Winifred Shotter, leading lady in eight of the original farces and five of the filmed versions