A Bit of a Test

The play depicts the efforts of the England cricket captain to keep his star batsman out of trouble during an Ashes series in Australia.

Ben Travers, who had written all but three of the series, made no attempt to write Walls-type roles for another actor to play.

Ralph Lynn, who had co-starred with Walls in the earlier farces, became the sole star for Dirty Work, Fifty-Fifty and A Bit of a Test.

[2] By 1933 some regular members of the Aldwych company had left, but there remained Lynn, in his customary "silly ass" roles, Robertson Hare, as a figure of put-upon respectability; Mary Brough as a good-hearted battle-axe; and the saturnine Gordon James.

Touring productions of the Aldwych farces had generally done well in Australia, but A Bit of a Test closed within four nights of opening in Melbourne.

"[8] The Manchester Guardian commented, "The Aldwych Gentlemen v. Players can hold their own even on that tricky wicket the financial state of the London theatres in 1933.