THE AFRICAN QUEEN

The Bold Fisherman

THE AFRICAN QUEEN

Directed by David Burmedi

Featuring Gaby Anderson, Robin Anderson, Derrick Jenkins

The African Queen is best known as a 1950s Hollywood movie, starring Humphrey Bogart and Kate Hepburn, about a couple who sojourn down a river in the heart of the African jungle. But few people know the film was actually based upon a novel by CS Forester, an author who won critical acclaim for his Horatio Hornblower series of maritime adventures. After the movie’s phenomenal success, the African Queen was featured as a Lux radio play. No one has ever put it on stage – until today.

The New English American Theater‘s version of the African Queen draws upon the movie, the book and the radio play. The radio play for its taut and amusing dialogue, the book for its rich narrative and the movie, of course, for the Hollywood ending. With one exception: we utterly reject the Hollywood trope of the brutal, uncaring and heartless German. Instead, we replace that character with someone finer. Just listen for the bell and you’ll understand.

Better yet, come see for yourself. Climb aboard the African Queen and get ready for the ride of your life. Leeches and all.