Robert Grove

Robert Grove (Henry Lewis) as Thomas Colleymoore in TPTGW

**Robert Grove** is the longest serving member of the Cornley Drama Society. He was the lead actor in The Murder At Haversham Manor, and the Assistant Director of Peter Pan Goes Wrong.

## Character

Robert is passionate about theatre, and thinks of himself as an expert in acting and dramaturgy. He tends to be over the top at times, and tries to hog the spotlight. Robert also has a rivalry with Chris Bean, as both are senior members of the company and likes to refer to himself as the lead actor of the society. Feeling that he's a good actor, he spent his part of the Cornley Drama Festival teaching an acting masterclass, and he has written multiple acting books (although they do not seem to be selling well, as he tries to give them away as Christmas presents in "Spirit of Christmas", and Sandra Wilkinson is the only person ever known to have actually opened a copy).

He is less serious than Chris, enjoying the attention of the audience regardless of situation, but gets frustrated with other members of the company when they mess up, like his niece, Lucy. There are several running gags involving him getting stuck in things, such as doorways or on falling platforms. In "Summer Once Again", Robert leads a coup against Chris and takes over as the director of the play but the play keeps going wrong so Robert being a perfectionist keeps restarting the play again from the beginning.

No much is known about his personal life other than he has a unnamed sister about his age, who appears in "A Christmas Carol", and a niece, Lucy. In "The Spirit of Christmas", Robert has a bit of breakdown during the play after getting drunk and reveals that his wife/girlfriend Denise has left him and he's living in his car.

## Relationships

### Chris Bean

Chris and Robert have known each other for a long time, and are friends. They have had rivalries in the past, especially during the events of A Christmas Carol. Chris made cutting remarks towards Robert and Robert attempted to grievously injure Chris, but they made up by the end (though Robert was somewhat annoyed that Chris had been seen snogging his sister and discussing a possible career move which would involve her, but not the rest of the Cornley Drama Society). They are also the only characters that have canonically worked together outside the scope of the CDS. In “A Christmas goes wrong”, ( a BBC radio 2 broadcast from 2016). It’s revealed that Robert has previously tried to have a relationship with Chris’ mother as he is heard having a phone call about booking a hotel room with her from the hotel.

### Dennis Tyde

Robert gets annoyed at Dennis' antics a lot, and generally looks down on him. However, in the See it Safely Covid Safety video, it is stated that they live together. However it’s been revealed in “A Christmas goes wrong” that Robert has slept with Dennis’ mother, it’s also revealed in the same broadcast that Dennis viewed and/or still does view Robert as a father figure, referring to him as “dad”. During 'Summer Once Again', when Robert had led the coup against Chris and was director for that week's play, he resorted to physical violence when Dennis kept screwing up his lines when reading them from a cue card, once by throwing a book at him and then twice smacking him later on.

### Trevor Watson

Robert expects Trevor to do his job, which isn't always the case, and feed him his lines when he forgets. Trevor does neither, causing Robert to often be frustrated with him. However, Trevor seems to be uncomfortable with Chris insulting Robert during Dennis' birthday party, despite not saying anything about it. During 'The Cornley Drama Festival Part 1', when Robert asks Chris what it's like to be stage manager and Trevor responds that it can be as challenging and as reward as acting, Robert scoffs and dismisses this, showing that he views Trevor's responsibilities as much less important than acting.

### Sandra Wilkinson

As director of "Summer Once Again" Robert arranges to film a bedroom scene between himself and Sandra. Unlike Sandra, Robert does not seem upset that it is used only in very speeded up form. During his masterclass in "The Cornley Drama Fastival Part 1", when lining up the actors in terms of talent, Robert lists Sandra as number 2 after himself. This shows that he respects her skills as an actor, even if he does offer critique on them at times.

### Lucy Grove

Lucy is Robert's niece. She suffers dreadfully from stage fright, made worse by Robert frequently bullying her, especially in "Peter Pan" and "No Escape". In both "Peter Pan" and "Christmas Carol" she is accidentally injured by him - in Peter Pan when he causes part of the set to fall on her, and in Christmas Carol when he attempts to drop an object on Chris and misses, in both cases resulting in her needing crutches (although she conveniently already had a crutch in Christmas Carol as she is playing Tiny Tim). Both times that he accidentally injured her, Robert showed concern for her, showing that despite his bullying of her acting, he does care for his niece.

### **Celia Bean**

As of The Christmas That Goes Wrong, it is revealed that Robert Grove is in a relationship with Chris' Mother, Celia Bean. Not much else is known about their relationship other than Robert believes her to "not be affectionate enough".

## Roles

### Plays

* Thomas Colleymore - The Murder At Haversham Manor
* Mr. Starkey/The Shadow/Nana - Peter Pan (also Assistant Director)
* Bugsworth/Scrooge/Tiny Tim/Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come/Pallbearer - A Christmas Carol

#### The Goes Wrong Show

* Santa - The Spirit of Christmas
* Hitler - The Pilot (Not the Pilot)
* Justice Shawcroft - A Trial to Watch
* Albert Fortenoy - The Lodge
* Papa (Mr Fennick) - Harper's Locket
* Ronald Pines - 90 Degrees
* Angel Gabriel - The Nativity
* Roger - Summer Once Again
* The (Ir)relevant Trumpeter - The Most Lamentable...
* Warden/Timmy - There is No Escape
* Himself/Sun Beetle - The Cornley Drama Festival Part 1
* Himself/Dad/Archbishop of Canterbury - The Cornley Drama Festival Part 2

#### Mentioned

* Mr Bumble - Oliver!
* Aunt Sponge - James and the Peach
* Lame Horse - Black Beauty
* Iago - Othell
* Jason - Jason and the Argonauts
* Winston Churchill - Eden's Empire
* Daniel/Rev Prone - A Fly in the Ointment
* Skinhead 2 - Razorwire
* Mr Puzzlemuch - Jim Jones and the Puzzlemuch Tree
* Tusenbach - Two Sisters
* Roote - Hothouse
* Panic - Pandora's Box
* 3rd Grotesque Man - The London Plague
* Young Freddy - Neglect
* Mr X - The Man in the Attic
* Dopey - Snow White and the Tall Broad Gentlemen
* Eddie - Blood Brothers
* Josef K - The Trial
* Mcavity - Cat
* Pharoh - Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat
* Augustus Gloop - Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
* The Miller - Canterbury Tales
* Toad - The Wind in the Willows
* Dorset - Richard III
* Godot - Unnamed self-written play

### Directing

* Jack and the Bean
* Puss In Boots (or, Puss Who Was Occasionally in Boots, But Often Refused to Wear His Boots, and Pooed in Them
* Summer Once Again (CDS production)

## Actors

The role of Robert Grove was originated by Henry Lewis.

Both The Play That Goes Wrong and Peter Pan Goes Wrong are live performances, and there are a number of actors that have played the role of Robert Grove throughout the years.

### List of Actors

* Henry Lewis
	+ Portrayed by him in the original and Broadway cast of The Play That Goes Wrong and Peter Pan Goes Wrong (Both BBC and West End Productions), A Christmas Carol Goes Wrong (BBC), and the Goes Wrong Show.
* David Kirkbride (West End)
* Michael Thatcher (US Tour)
* Kazeem Tosin-Amore (West End & UK Tour)
* Len Cook
* Preston Truman Boyd
* Brent Bateman (Off-Broadway)
* Luke Joslin
* Jonah D. Winston

## Trivia

* Robert wrote the book: "Anything You Can Act, I Can Act Louder", "Anything You Can Act, I Can Act Even Louder", and "WHY!"
* He has occasionally directed CDS productions, though Chris seems to direct most of them.
* During an appearance on "Behind the Actors' Studio", Robert says that he was inspired to become an actor by his father, a doctor, and once wrote a book ("How to Act") for his uncle's printing house.
* Robert is apparently 6 months older than Dennis, and 2 years younger than Chris, as stated in The Christmas That Goes Wrong.
* He runs the Cornley Youth Theatre group.
* Every Christmas Robert holds his own one person nativity show in a park nearby his house, he also sometimes dresses as Santa just for himself as he enjoys it.
* When playing the wolf in a performance of “The three little pigs”, it took Robert 15 hours to blow all the houses down.
* Robert Grove canonically has had at least 2 pets, an owl called Ionesco, whom he rehearsed with (however, the owl being an owl was unable to say its lines), and an unnamed dog used in his solo production, "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time in your Garden"

## References

1. ↑  In A Christmas Carol, Chris kisses Robert's sister, who is at Dennis's birthday party