The famous farce by Ray Cooney and Tony Hilton.
It was with One for the Pot that Brian Rix erupted from the coach-party theatre to receive a barrage of favourable attention from London's critics.
This farce, in which he plays four parts, was greeted with rapture. Sample quotes: 'Should run for at least thirteen years'; 'fast and funny'; and 'easily the funniest thing Brian Rix has done.'
Harold Hobson, drama critic of the Sunday Times, said of the play when it opened at the Whitehall in 1961: 'This farce has no desire to exalt the soul, or to stimulate the intellect. It is perfectly satisfied if it tickles your ribs, splits your sides, and rolls you in the aisles.'
In tonight's production of the farce, five of the original cast will be appearing. They include Brian Rix, of course, who is ably aided and abetted by Leo Franklyn, Basil Lord, Helen Jessop, and Sheila Mercier.
The finest farces are plays of exquisite timing. Who comes through what door when and how, keeping the audience stoked up to boiling pitch, are all basic ingredients of a farce. But it's not just timing that keeps a play running for three years. The script has to be really funny. And One for the Pot is a very heady brew.