by Ray Cooney, John Chapman
Translation: Marinela Ioan

Artistic direction: Cristian Ioan
Decorations: Violin Bar
Costumes: Amalia Judea
Premiere date: 19.11.2010

English playwright Ray Cooney was born in 1932 and made his acting debut almost by accident at the age of 14. After working in several companies, he joined Brian Rix's company at the Whitehall Theatre in 1956, performing in more than 200 plays over the course of five years. His stage experience taught him the craft of dramaturgy, and his first play, written in 1961 in collaboration with Tony Hilton, was an immediate success. In 1983, Ray Cooney founded the Comedy Theatre Company, which produced over 20 plays during his artistic directorship. In 2005, he was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in recognition of his services to the development of English theatre.

English actor, playwright and screenwriter, John Chapman (1927-2001) was one of the most active and skilled exponents of the post-war farce. He began his acting studies at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, which he left after two years, discouraged by his speech technique teacher. However, luck smiled on him and on the very day he left the Academy, he received a role in a show produced by Brian Rix, the first in the Whitehall Theatre's farce series. Two of the productions of this series – "Dry Rot" and "Simple Spymen" – were written by John Chapman himself and were a formidable success, each having over 1400 performances. He is the author of numerous plays and television scripts, written by himself or in collaboration with other famous names in the field, such as Dave Freeman, Anthony Marriott, Jeremy Lloyd, Eric Merriman.

John Chapman's collaboration with Ray Cooney produced four highly successful songs: "Not Now Darling" (1968), "Move Over Mrs Markham" (1971), "My Giddy Aunt" (1968) and "There Goes the Bride" (1974).

"Double Reservation" or "Amor cu repetiţie" is one of the successful plays of the two authors. It is also the turn of the Romanian audience to have a lot of fun watching this play. And the fact that the premiere takes place in Oradea, and the characters are played by the actors of the "Iosif Vulcan" theater troupe can only make us happy. This show means characters involved in more special relationships. The meeting point – the same apartment, the same hour. What happens next? Double Reservation is a comedy in two acts full of suspense, complications, deceptions and risky situations.

Distribution:

Joanna Markham:  Ioana Dragos Gajdo
Linda Lodge:  Adela Lazar
Olive Harriet Smyth:  Corina Cernea
Miss Wilkinson:  Lucia Rogoz
Philip Markham:  Petre Ghimbasan
Alistair Spenlow:  Razvan Vicoveanu
Henry Lodge:  Serban Borda
Walter Pangbourne:  Alexander Rusu
Sylvie Hausvater:  Daniel Vulcu