Robert Daws Will Lead William Humble's WODEHOUSE IN WONDERLAND

Robert Daws (Jeeves and Wooster, Poldark), will bring to life the humour and heart of one of Britain’s greatest comic writers, when he stars in William Humble’s play Wodehouse in Wonderland, at Assembly George Square Studios, at Edinburgh Festival Fringe, from Wednesday 30 July until Sunday 24 August 2025 (excl. 11, 18 Aug) at 6.10pm (70 mins). This one-man play, which coincides with the commemorations marking 50 years since P.G. Wodehouse’s death, is directed by Robin Herford (The Woman in Black). 

Based on the life and writings of P.G. Wodehouse, Wodehouse in Wonderland takes place in P.G. Wodehouse’s New York State home in the 1950’s. Plum, as he is known to family and friends, is working away at the latest adventures of Bertie Wooster but is interrupted by a young would-be biographer, his adored wife, daughter Snorkles, and his two Pekingese. He shares stories about how Jeeves entered his life, how he became addicted to American soap operas and why he wrote books that were ‘like musical comedies without music’. He sings songs composed by Broadway legends such as Jerome Kern, George Gershwin, Cole Porter and Ivor Novello with lyrics written by himself, and entertains the audience with characters including Bertie Wooster, Jeeves, Lord Emsworth, Gussie Fink-Nottle and the squashily romantic Madeline Bassett…but there’s also a darker story ahead for Wodehouse beneath the fun.

Robert Daws said: “Seven years ago, I called my friend of several decades, the BAFTA-winning screenwriter and playwright William Humble, and asked him if he fancied working on a theatre project about the life of Pelham Grenville Wodehouse. To my pleasure and happy surprise, Bill instantly replied, “That would be spiffing”. 

“Having already researched the world of Wodehouse for a film script he had been commissioned to write, Bill presented the first draft of Wodehouse In Wonderland within weeks. Workshops, readings, and first performances at Literary Festivals at Oxford, Blenheim Palace, and Gibraltar followed, and Bill was in his element. His love of Wodehouse and the theatre spurred him forward, helping, as he often told me, to fight against the ill health he was increasingly battling to keep at bay. Sadly, Bill lost this battle at the end of 2024, leaving his beloved family and friends to mourn the passing of a loving, passionate and hugely creative man.
 

“From the beginning of Wodehouse In Wonderland, Bill had expressed the wish that his play might be performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe on the 50th Anniversary of Plum’s death. It is bittersweet that Wodehouse In Wonderland will make it to Scotland this year but without its author. Neither Bill nor his literary hero Plum was much given to sentimentality. Still, I hope they would both forgive me the indulgence of imagining the two of them looking down on our Festival run and enjoying a spiffing time together.”

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