The Confidential Clerk
by T.S. Eliot
by T.S. Eliot
The Confidential Clerk is a comedic tale of Sir Claude Mulhammer who hires his illegitimate son Colby as a clerk, leading to unexpected family revelations and romantic entanglements.
About The Play
About The Play
Sir Claude Mulhammer, a wealthy entrepreneur, wants to smuggle his illegitimate son Colby into his household, so he employs him as his new confidential clerk in the hope that his eccentric wife Elizabeth will take a shine to the young man. She exceeds his greatest expectations, however, when she claims that Colby is her own long-lost son. Colby, meanwhile, becomes entangled with the beautiful Lucasta Angel, who is in turn engaged to the thrusting young businessman B. Kaghan. And nobody seems to have any parents…
The Confidential Clerk has all the sophistication of T.S. Eliot’s finest poetry, coupled with a delightfully impish wit and unexpectedly playful characterisation. It was first produced at the Edinburgh Festival in 1953, after which it transferred to the Lyric and later the Duke of York’s in 1954. It has not been seen in Central London for over fifty years.