What follows is a relatively detailed synopsis of the action of What The Butler Saw; photos of the Hazleton Campus production illustrate the text. All photos were taken by Eric Picard.
What The Butler Saw takes place in a private psychiatric clinic run by Dr. Prentice. At the beginning of the play, Dr. Prentice is interviewing a young woman for the position of secretary--but it is obvious he has more than just the secretarial position on his mind.
Geraldine is a bit nervous about the interview, since a close relative recently died when a gas man exploded, shattering a bronze statue of Sir Winston Churchill and sending part of the statue into the woman, killing her. Under the pretense of a physical examination, Prentice has Geraldine undress behind a curtain. At that moment, Mrs. Prentice returns from a night at the Station Hotel. She is wearing only a fur coat, since the bellboy stole her dress and wig. Prentice leaves for an emergency in Ward B, and then the bellboy arrives. He tries to blackmail Mrs. Prentice into getting him a job as her husband's secretary, and she agrees. Prentice returns, and they argue; Mrs. Prentice exits and Nick follows.
Before Prentice can get Geraldine out, Mrs. Prentice returns and finds him with Geraldine's dress, and accuses him of transvestism. She then takes Geradline's dress and goes off to change. Again, before Prentice can help the naked Geraldine make a getaway, Dr. Rance, an investigator from the government, arrives to check out the clinic. Rance begins snooping about and finds Geraldine. Prentice declares her to be a patient, and Rance has her committed. Prentice tries to stop him, but to no avail; Rance takes her off to the ward.
Mrs. Prentice re-enters and tells Prentice to interview Nick; he excuses himself from the returning Rance, and exits. Mrs. Prentice then confesses her fears of Prentice's madness to Dr. Rance, and in the discussion, finds Geraldine's shoe. Rance delicately fondles the shoe and determines that Prentice is insane, and that "Fancies grow like weeds in the unhealthy soil of a sick brain."
When Prentice returns, Rance confronts him with the shoe; Prentice admits to it being his. Rance then exits in search of Prentice's secretary, Miss Barclay. Prentice and Mrs. Prentice begin to argue again, but are interrupted by Nick carrying Mrs. Prentice's dress and wig. Prentice grabs them, and Mrs. Prentice goes off to tell Rance about this latest attack of cross-dressing.
After a couple of quick entrances and exits, Mrs. Prentice tells Prentice that a police sergeant has arrived and wants to speak with him. Nick fears that the Sergeant wants to arrest him for messing about with some girl scouts, and Prentice decides to help Nick--and himself--by having Nick pretend to be his secretary, Geraldine Barclay. Nick undresses, just as Mrs. Prentice returns.
Prentice explains that he is simply giving the youth a physical, and that she should send the Sergeant in. Nick goes off to put on the dress and wig. Enter Sergeant Match, who is searching not only for bellboy Nick, but for Geraldine Barclay who, it is believed, has in her possession a missing part of the Churchill statue. Prentice and Match go off to speak with Rance in the garden. Just then, Geraldine returns, finds the bellboy outfit, and ducks behind the curtain once again. Enter Nick, in dress and wig, suddenly discovered by Mrs. Prentice, who questions "her," thinking "she" is Geraldine. Just then, Match and Prentice return, and Match asks that Mrs. Prentice take "Geraldine" off for a strip search to locate the missing Churchill part. They exit, and Match begins a brief search of the room for Nick; he looks behind the curtain and finds Geraldine dressed as a bellboy. He arrests her as Act One ends.
Act Two begins where Act One left off, with Match questioning Geraldine. Rance enters and insists on conducting an examination of "Nick." Rance asks Match to wait outside and approaches Geraldine. She then admits that she's a girl, but Rance thinks it's just part of a delusion. Meanwhile, Mrs. Prentice is having problems with the non-compliant "Geraldine" who refuses to undress. Rance exits to take care of that situation. He returns, and Mrs. Prentice and the now-sedated "Geraldine" enter. Prentice further confuses the situation by naming the bellboy, "Gerald Barclay," twin brother of Geraldine. Rance carries "Gerald" off to be committed (again). Mrs. Prentice goes to call the Station Hotel to find Nick. Nick and Prentice hatch a plan to get Match's uniform.
Nick hides, and Prentice calls Match in. He insists on a medical exam, and Match undresses--caught by Mrs. Prentice again, of course. She goes off again to report to Rance. Match finishes undressing, and Prentice gives him some tranquilizers. Prentice and Nick put the dress on Match and dump him in the garden.
Nick puts on the uniform, and both exit to put their plan into operation. Enter Rance and Mrs. Prentice who discuss the case, and Rance decides that Prentice is "one of the most remarkable lunatics of all time."
RANCE: As a transvestite, fetishist, bi-sexual murderer Dr. Prentice displays considerable deviation overlap. We may get necrophilia too. As a sort of bonus.
Prentice returns, and Rance makes his accusations, but Prentice defends himself. When Rance exits in search of a straitjacket, Prentice pulls off his wife's dress and runs off, laughing maniacally. Rance returns, and they discuss this most recent event.
Nick enters in the policeman's uniform, and announces that he has arrested his brother, Nicholas Beckett. Then he confesses who he really is, and Rance enlists him to straitjacket. Rance and Mrs. Prentice take out pistols and they exit in search of Prentice. Prentice re-enters but Nick fails to put the straitjacket on him. Geraldine enters, and Prentice convinces them that the way out is to exchange clothes. They begin to do so, but in comes Mrs. Prentice, armed, demanding at gunpoint that Prentice make love to her. He begs off, and ducks out. Shots are heard offstage, Match and Nick are wounded, and Mrs. Prentice watches "naked men running in all directions." She confesses this to Rance who sees her as insane now. They catch Geraldine, and Rance calls for an injection--which he takes: "You don't imagine I'm wasting this stuff on her, do you?" He exits to call the police. Nick enters, and all three wonder who IS mad at this point.
Prentice returns and wrestles the pistol from his wife, and puts her in a straitjacket. Rance enters, and they face off, both armed.
Then, Prentice confesses his seduction attempt, and Geraldine corroborates his story. Rance is horrified: he can't believe that his conclusion of incest and black rites are untrue!
Nick undoes Geraldine's straitjacket, and she mentions the loss of her lucky elephant brooch. Rance pulls it out--he had found it earlier--and Nick notices that he has one just like it! Mrs. Prentice recognizes the brooches as part of a larger brooch she once owned. It was given to her by someone who had raped her in the linen closet of the Station Hotel years ago. She had gotten pregnant with twins, and fastened half a brooch on each of the babies before leaving them on two doorsteps in a small country town. Another confession: it was Dr. Prentice who had raped a young chambermaid years earlier. And so, Geraldine and Nick are the children of Dr. and Mrs. Prentice! And Rance is right--Geraldine was the victim of an incestuous attack! But wait--Match, now clear-headed, demands to know the whereabouts of the missing part of Sir Winston Churchill. Geraldine says, she was given a box after the funeral, and has it with her. All gather around Match to watch him open it.
He opens it and all are amazed. It is not the cigar, the symbol of the man, but a more profound symbol, more inspiring for dark times. Match removes the symbol, a large bronze phallus, and holds it aloft for all to see.
The End.
Music and sound effects provided by The Outpatients.
