Habeas Corpus is a stage comedy in two acts by the English author Alan Bennett. It was first performed at the Lyric Theatre in London on 10 May 1973, with Alec Guinness in the central role. It ran, with cast changes, until 10 August 1974. The Broadway production that followed was less successful, running for less than three months. The play has been revived several times since then, in London and elsewhere.
The action revolves around the (generally) thwarted libidos of the principal characters. The title of the play is an old legal term habeas corpus, which translates from Latin as "you shall have the body".
Background
Having made his reputation as a co-writer of and performer in Beyond the Fringe, Bennett turned to writing full-length plays. Habeas Corpus was his third to be staged in the West End. It followed Forty Years On (1968) and Getting On (1971), which were described by the critic Michael Billington as "two elegiac comedies about the decline of England". In the new play Bennett's comedy became farcical: Billington called it "a gorgeously vulgar but densely plotted farce".
Original cast
Arthur Wicksteed, a General Practitioner – Alec Guinness
Muriel Wicksteed, his wife – Margaret Courtenay
Dennis Wicksteed, their son – Christopher Good
Constance Wicksteed, the doctor's sister – Phyllida Law
Mrs Swabb, a cleaning lady – Patricia Hayes
Canon Throbbing, a celibate – Roddy Maude-Roxby
Lady Rumpers, a white settler – Joan Sanderson
Felicity Rumpers, her daughter – Madeline Smith
Mr Shanks, a sales representative – Andrew Sachs
Sir Percy Shorter, a leading light in the medical profession – John Bird
Mr Purdue, a sick man – Mike Carnell
Directed by Ronald Eyre, designed by Derek Cousins; music by Carl Davis. In February 1974 Robert Hardy succeeded Guinness as Dr Wicksteed, and the author took over the role of Mrs Swabb.
Plot
The action takes place in and around the Wicksteeds' house in Hove, on the south coast of England.
Mrs Swabb, who combines the functions of cleaner and all-knowing Fate, introduces the main characters. Wicksteed is 53, has an eye for the ladies and lacks ambition; his wife, Muriel, is a more assertive figure; their son, Dennis, is a wimpish hypochondriac, frustrated at his lack of a girlfriend; Connie is a flat-chested spinster who secretly longs to be sexually alluring; Sir Percy Shorter, President of the British Medical Association, was once Muriel's sweetheart and he bears a grudge against Wicksteed for cutting him out; Lady Rumpers is a returning expatriate, concerned for the purity of her beautiful daughter Felicity; Canon Throbbing is anxious to abandon his celibate state, which he finds a strain to keep up.
Meeting Felicity for the first time, Wicksteed is instantly consumed with lust for her, and attempts to arrange a tête-à-tête. Muriel finds her old feelings for Shorter rekindled and she too plots a rendezvous. A parcel arrives for Connie: it contains a pair of false breasts. Felicity makes a pass at Dennis and they go off together. Mr Shanks, the fitter from the false-breast manufacturer, arrives and mistaking Muriel for his client rhapsodises about and handles her substantial bust, until realising his mistake. Muriel, aroused to a predatory frenzy, pursues Shanks until interrupted by the arrival of Shorter, who misreading the situation injects Shanks with a powerful tranquilliser. Connie has put on her padded breasts, which make her feel suddenly attractive and confident to the point of brazenness. She mistakes Shorter for the fitter, and invites him to handle her bust. He is aroused and is discovered trouserless by Canon Throbbing, whom he attempts to tranquillise, pursuing him offstage with a hypodermic. Dennis and Felicity declare their intention to marry, but he is sent away by Wicksteed, who then attempts to seduce Felicity. Shorter catches him in the act and threatens to have him disciplined and barred from medical practice. Muriel joins in the denunciation and the uproar is increased by a suicide attempt by Wicksteed's patient Mr Purdue, who is trying to hang himself as Lady Rumpers enters.