Vice Versa (play)
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by Thomas Anstey Guthrie
| Vice Versa | |
|---|---|
 Cast list for a Strand Theatre production | |
| Written by | Edward Rose |
| Based on | Vice Versa by Thomas Anstey Guthrie |
| Date premiered | 9 April 1883 |
| Place premiered | Gaiety Theatre, London |
| Original language | English |
| Genre | Fantasy |
Vice Versa: A Lesson to Fathers is a play by Edward Rose that adapted the 1882 novel of the same name by Thomas Anstey Guthrie. The play debuted at the Gaiety Theatre, London on 9 April 1883. The story is about a body swap between a father and son. Rose played the son in the debut production; Charles Hawtrey played the father.[1]
Guthrie authorized Rose's adaptation,[2] but later decided to write his own stage version of the story, which debuted in 1910.[3]
Mr. Bultitude, a middle-aged man with a school-aged son named Dick, has unknowingly come into possession of the "Garuda stone", a magical object that grants its holder one wish. When Dick complains about school, Bultitude expresses a wish that he could be young again and take his son's place. The stone fulfills the wish by causing the two to swap bodies. Although Bultitude wants to swap back, Dick is pleased to be an adult and wishes for his body-swapped father to be sent off to boarding school. Bultitude's middle-aged habits are out of place at school, and he is surprised by romantic attention from Dulcie Grimstone, the schoolmaster's daughter. When Dulcie learns about the swap, she obtains the stone and wishes for them to be swapped back.
Cast and characters
The characters and cast from the Gaiety Theatre production are given below:[1]
| Character | Cast |
|---|---|
| Mr. Bultitude's body | C. H. Hawtrey |
| Dick's body | Edward Rose |
| Dr. Grimestone (a schoolmaster) | W. F. Hawtrey |
| Mr. Shellack (a merchant) | Louis Armstrong |
| Clegg (a cabman) | Frank Wood |
| Tipping (a schoolboy) | E. Hamilton Bell |
| Chawner (a schoolboy) | T. Cannam |
| Dulcie (Grimstone's daughter) | Laura Linden |
| Eliza (a housemaid) | Rose Roberts |