A Mad World My Masters

Thomas Middleton’s outrageous ‘city comedy’: a brilliantly plotted, farcical satire of lies and lust, translated from Jacobean London to the Soho of the 1950s.

A dashingly impecunious bachelor, Dick Follywit, in need of quick cash and a good time has to live on his wits so turns con-man to fool his rich uncle. He variously becomes a Lord, a high-class call girl and a poor actor. Meanwhile, Truly Kidman, a high-class call girl – poor but quick-witted – needs to fool and then marry a rich young man. Sean Foley and Phil Porter’s edited version of Middleton’s play is faithful to the original text but adapts it to fit the seedy world of 1950s Soho, updating character names and including songs of the time to enhance the biting satire of lust and deception in the life of Bohemian London.

"An uproarious success akin to One Man, Two Guvnors... Foley (and his co-adaptor, Phil Porter) have most artfully edited, shortened and tweaked the gorgeously gamey Jacobean language of the original, putting a modern Carry On Gulling-style spin on the proceedings." - Independent

"Foley takes this tale of an unseemly scramble for sex and money in London of 1605, and transposes it, hilariously, to Fifties Soho...sections of the audience were left gasping at the ingenuity of it all." Five stars - Daily Mail

"Faithful to the smut, the wit, the bad puns and the general rumbustiousness of the city comedy… it’s fun (and other things) with a capital F." - Financial Times

"The play offers an ingeniously dovetailed double plot… the genius of Middleton's satire on a world obsessed by money and sex shines through." - Guardian