According to the show’s playwright, Rob Becker, Defending the Caveman has been recommended to patients by psychologists and marriage councillors. Written over 3 years, Becker’s play aimed to be a peacemaker in the ongoing misunderstandings between men and women. In 1997, the show entered the record books as the longest running solo play in Broadway history. After appearing in more than 30 countries and having been performed to over 8 million people worldwide, Defending the Caveman returns to London’s West End in 2010 as it appears at the Leicester Square Theatre.
In 1988, Rob Becker began a study of, according to the show’s official website, ‘anthropology, prehistory, psychology, sociology and mythology’. The result came in 1991 when Defending the Caveman opened in San Francisco. The show went on to perform a one year run in Dallas before sell-out runs in Washington DC, Philadelphia and Chicago. On March 26th 1995, the production opened at the Helen Hayes Theatre on Broadway. After its 399th performance on July 17th 1996, the show became the longest-running solo play in Broadway history, beating the previous record set by Lilly Tomlin’s Search for Intelligent Life in the Universe. To honour this landmark in the Broadway record books, the then New York City Mayor, Rudolph Giuliani, renamed a part of the City’s West 44th Street ‘Caveman Way’. He also declared July 18th 1996 as ‘Caveman Day’.
January 1997 saw Defending the Caveman leave the Helen Hayes Theatre and embark on a national tour. The show sold out theatres of up to 3000 seats in places such as Miami, Seattle and Boston. The show not only won over audiences but critics and the show won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Entertainment. In 1999, the show opened in London’s West End at the Apollo Theatre, with Mark Little playing the show’s only character. The show was also performed in Iceland during 1999, marking the first time the show had been performed in a different language. Theatre Mogul brought the rights to the show in 1999 and the first venue to stage Defending the Caveman was in Berlin. Since then, Theatre Mogul has taken the show to 30 different countries and even today, the show runs in Berlin and continues to be performed to full houses.
2010 sees the West End return of Defending the Caveman and Mark Little in the show’s only role. Mark Little is best known for his role as Joe Mangel in the long-running Australian soap opera, Neighbours.
Defending the Caveman appears at the Leicester Square Theatre from the 2nd February 2001 until the 21st February 2010.