DIVORCED from his wife, Oscar lives in the cheerful chaos his carefree nature thrives on. Into the midst of his smoke-laden, beer-sodden weekly poker session, comes Felix, newly separated from his wife and, so he says, suicidal.
The Settlement Players present Neil Simon’s hilarious comedy The Odd Couple at The Settlement in Nevells Road, Letchworth, from February 23-25.
At Oscar's invitation, Felix moves in, and is soon finding comfort in performing, with the same thoroughness which lost him his wife, the cooking, cleaning, polishing and laundry until Oscar is almost reduced, by continuous nagging, to a nervous wreck.
The plot concerns the two mismatched roommates, one neat and uptight, the other more easygoing and slovenly.
Sources vary as to the origins of the play. Most sources claim that Simon was inspired to write the play when he saw his brother Danny Simon and theatrical agent Roy Gerber living together after recent divorces.
However, in the Mel Brooks biography It's Good to Be the King, author James Robert Parish claims that the play came about after Simon observed Brooks, in a separation from his first wife, living with writer Speed Vogel for three months.
Vogel later wrote that Brooks had insomnia, "a brushstroke of paranoia" and "a blood-sugar problem that kept us a scintilla away from insanity."
Danny Simon, also a writer, took the first crack at the play, but later handed over the idea to Neil.
The show, directed by Mike Nichols, ran on Broadway for 966 performances and won several Tony Awards, including Best Actor (Play) for Walter Matthau and Best Author (Play).
In its original Broadway run, Ungar was played by Art Carney and Madison by Walter Matthau.
Tickets, priced £7, are available from David’s Music, Eastcheap, Letchworth Gaden City. urtain-up for the performances is at 7.45pm.
