Who’s in Bed with the Butler’s author, Michael Parker

January 15, 2019 Behind the Curtain

Michael Parker’s “Who’s in Bed with the Butler” will be presented by Strauss Theatre Center on January 31 February 1, 2, 3, 8, 9 .

Michael Parker was raised in the theatre in England, winning awards during his early teenage years for his performances, and touring at age 17 with the National Shakespearean Youth Company. A graduate of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, he served five years in the military, then, as he said, finding that the general need for anti-tank specialists was not so great, he moved to Canada, where he established a business that was so successful that after ten years he sold it and retired to the Caribbean, then was drawn to Florida to work in theatre.

As an English actor working in America, Mr. Parker became acutely aware of the difficulties experienced by American theatre companies, in producing English works, in particular modern farces. He decided many of the best farces simply do not “translate” well into “American.”

So he challenged himself to write a play which would integrate all the best loved and most familiar devices of the traditional British farce into a distinctly American setting. This had to be a play in which the verbal, visual, and above all, the circumstantial humor would be immediately available to American audiences. The result was an “American Farce, The Sensuous Senator,” which was inspired by the then current sex scandal involving Senator Gary Hart.

Encouraged by the success of his first play, and the popularity of the British “naughty but nice” concept, he went on to write a sequel called, The Amorous Ambassador. The rest, as they say, is history. He has been writing successful farces for the American stage ever since.

An interesting note is that he met his wife Susan in the theatre; in fact, he cast her in the role of “Suzy Legere” in his world premier of “Who’s In Bed With The Butler?” in California, in which he had the role of the butler In 2006 Susan joined him as coauthor; their first work, “Sin, Sex & the CIA,” was a hit and the partnership has continued through six more shows. Their most recent work has the intriguing title “Sandy Toes and Salty Kisses.”

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