Spettigue still wants to marry "Donna Lucia" for her money. Babbs does so, which Sir Francis finds to be a relief. Jack urgently corners Babbs and orders him to let his father down gently. Jack's father, Sir Francis, has decided to propose marriage to Donna Lucia, purely for money. However, Babbs is in the way, charming the girls as Donna Lucia. Outside Jack's rooms, in the grounds of St Olde's College, the boys are trying to get their girls alone so that they can confess their love.
He decides to stay for lunch to attempt to woo "Donna Lucia". However the penniless Spettigue soon learns that Charley's aunt is Donna Lucia D'Alvadorez, the celebrated millionaire. Spettigue arrives, angered that Kitty and Amy are lunching with the boys without his permission. He takes one look at Babbs and tries to leave, but Jack retrieves him. Sir Francis soon enters to meet Donna Lucia. Babbs annoys the boys by accepting kisses from Amy and Kitty the boys respond to his flirtations with violence. His strange appearance and unchanged voice (he had never acted before) do not raise any suspicions. Jack and Charley introduce Babbs as Charley's aunt. Fortunately Babbs's costume happens to be that of an old lady. The boys panic: the girls are coming, and they won't stay without a chaperone. Sir Francis is hesitant but agrees to meet Donna Lucia before he makes a decision.Ĭharley receives a telegram saying that Donna Lucia will not be arriving for a few days. Horrified, Jack suggests that Sir Francis should marry Donna Lucia, a widow and a millionaire, in order to clear the family debts. Sir Francis reveals that he has inherited debts that have wiped out the family's fortunes instead of going into politics as he had intended, Jack will have to accept a position in Bengal. Jack soon receives an unexpected visit from his father, Sir Francis Chesney, a retired colonel who served in India. Annoyed, Jack orders Charley to go to the railway station to wait for Donna Lucia. Babbs also uses Jack's room to try on his costume for an amateur play in which he is taking part.Īmy and Kitty arrive to meet Jack and Charley, but Donna Lucia has not arrived yet, and so the girls leave to go shopping until she shows up. Babbs tells the boys about his own love, the daughter of an English officer called Delahay, whom he met in Monte Carlo, although he does not remember her name.
While they are out, Babbs breaks into Jack's room to steal all his champagne, but Jack and Charley intercept him and persuade him to stay for lunch. They seek out another Oxford undergraduate, Lord Fancourt Babberley (known as "Babbs"), to distract Donna Lucia while they romance their girls. The boys invite Amy and Kitty to lunch to meet her, also intending to declare their love to the girls, who are being sent away to Scotland with Amy's uncle, Stephen Spettigue, who is also Kitty's guardian. Charley receives word that his aunt, Donna Lucia d'Alvadorez, a rich widow from Brazil whom he has never met, is coming to visit him. Jack Chesney and Charley Wykeham are undergraduates at Oxford University in love, respectively, with Kitty Verdun and Amy Spettigue. Programme for the original London production Act I It toured internationally and has been revived continually and adapted for films and musicals. The play was also a success on Broadway in 1893, and in Paris, where it had further long runs. Penley, a friend of Thomas, who appeared as Babberley. The production broke the historic record for longest-running play worldwide, running for 1,466 performances. It then opened in London at the Royalty Theatre on 21 December 1892 and quickly transferred to the larger Globe Theatre on 30 January 1893. The play was first performed at the Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds in February 1892. The play concludes with three pairs of young lovers united, along with an older pair – Charley's real aunt and Jack's widowed father. The complications of the plot include the arrival of the real aunt and the attempts of an elderly fortune hunter to woo the bogus aunt. The story centres on Lord Fancourt Babberley, an undergraduate whose friends Jack and Charley persuade him to impersonate the latter's aunt.
Farmer in the original productionĬharley's Aunt is a farce in three acts written by Brandon Thomas.
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