Right Ho, Jeeves is a novel by P.G. Wodehouse that was first published in 1934. Through a convoluted set of circumstances it fell into the public domain in the United States (unlike most of Wodehouse’s works). As a result, I was able to download it for free for some vacation reading in 2010, and as I read it, I thought to myself “this would make a great play.”
I worked on adapting the novel for the stage during the fall of 2010. I cut characters, condensed scenes, played a bit with the order of events, and most significantly created the climactic final scene out of whole cloth. I would guess that at this point roughly 50% of the dialog is Wodehouse’s original work and 50% is my own. It is my hope that no one who’s unfamiliar with the novel would be able to tell the difference.
The play has 10 characters (7 men and 3 women) and one actor could easily play 3 characters, bringing the total cast size down to 8.
My play will have its first public reading on June 3 as part of the Three Ring Reading Series, a joint production of Centastage and Shadow Boxing Theater.