She Stoops to Conquer ****
Sun, 2 May 2004, 03:42 pmWalter Plinge1 post in thread
She Stoops to Conquer ****
Sun, 2 May 2004, 03:42 pmCurtin Hayman Theatre 8.00 nightly until the 8th May
The appeal of a play written in the 1770’s is pretty low on my list. Then when one finds that the story has ‘nothing of importance to say’ then one gets less than enthusiastic. How wrong can one be?
The era of the play – cleverly directed by Donald Pulford - is deliberately confused and achronistic, but this just adds to the point of the story – total confusion. It is about a young man, Marlow, chosen to marry Mr Hardcastle’s daughter by agreement of their fathers. Marlow is sent to the Hardcastle’s house being told it is a local inn, and here he treats Mr Hardcastle’s family and servants with disdain.
Of course the confusion becomes obvious to him, things are resolved, and they all live happily ever after. Yes the story will never win a literary prize but the characterisation might.
The opening scene starts to the strains of the comical Lincolnshire ‘Singing PostmanÂ’ performing ‘Have you got a light luv?Â’ so one immediately knows what type of humour to expect. Mr Hardcastle is brilliantly played by Tony Nicholls (of pantomime fame), acting at Curtin for the first time in some years. His wife (Sam Young) is exuberant, and with the fantastic costumes made by Bonnie Parker and Fiona Bruce, comes over tremendously. The other female leads, Sophie Dunham and Zoë Cooper capture their characters beautifully.
Whilst the main story line is progressing, almost throughout the whole play, there are these hilarious background happenings – as in Leslie Nielsen films eg ‘Airport’ – by Martin Doucet, Matthew Hardie, Cory Mulroney, and Dylan Sercombe. Cameos by well established comics Josh Price and Lara Thew round off this play which has many belly laughs. Very funny, great show.
The appeal of a play written in the 1770’s is pretty low on my list. Then when one finds that the story has ‘nothing of importance to say’ then one gets less than enthusiastic. How wrong can one be?
The era of the play – cleverly directed by Donald Pulford - is deliberately confused and achronistic, but this just adds to the point of the story – total confusion. It is about a young man, Marlow, chosen to marry Mr Hardcastle’s daughter by agreement of their fathers. Marlow is sent to the Hardcastle’s house being told it is a local inn, and here he treats Mr Hardcastle’s family and servants with disdain.
Of course the confusion becomes obvious to him, things are resolved, and they all live happily ever after. Yes the story will never win a literary prize but the characterisation might.
The opening scene starts to the strains of the comical Lincolnshire ‘Singing PostmanÂ’ performing ‘Have you got a light luv?Â’ so one immediately knows what type of humour to expect. Mr Hardcastle is brilliantly played by Tony Nicholls (of pantomime fame), acting at Curtin for the first time in some years. His wife (Sam Young) is exuberant, and with the fantastic costumes made by Bonnie Parker and Fiona Bruce, comes over tremendously. The other female leads, Sophie Dunham and Zoë Cooper capture their characters beautifully.
Whilst the main story line is progressing, almost throughout the whole play, there are these hilarious background happenings – as in Leslie Nielsen films eg ‘Airport’ – by Martin Doucet, Matthew Hardie, Cory Mulroney, and Dylan Sercombe. Cameos by well established comics Josh Price and Lara Thew round off this play which has many belly laughs. Very funny, great show.
Walter PlingeSun, 2 May 2004, 03:42 pm
Curtin Hayman Theatre 8.00 nightly until the 8th May
The appeal of a play written in the 1770’s is pretty low on my list. Then when one finds that the story has ‘nothing of importance to say’ then one gets less than enthusiastic. How wrong can one be?
The era of the play – cleverly directed by Donald Pulford - is deliberately confused and achronistic, but this just adds to the point of the story – total confusion. It is about a young man, Marlow, chosen to marry Mr Hardcastle’s daughter by agreement of their fathers. Marlow is sent to the Hardcastle’s house being told it is a local inn, and here he treats Mr Hardcastle’s family and servants with disdain.
Of course the confusion becomes obvious to him, things are resolved, and they all live happily ever after. Yes the story will never win a literary prize but the characterisation might.
The opening scene starts to the strains of the comical Lincolnshire ‘Singing PostmanÂ’ performing ‘Have you got a light luv?Â’ so one immediately knows what type of humour to expect. Mr Hardcastle is brilliantly played by Tony Nicholls (of pantomime fame), acting at Curtin for the first time in some years. His wife (Sam Young) is exuberant, and with the fantastic costumes made by Bonnie Parker and Fiona Bruce, comes over tremendously. The other female leads, Sophie Dunham and Zoë Cooper capture their characters beautifully.
Whilst the main story line is progressing, almost throughout the whole play, there are these hilarious background happenings – as in Leslie Nielsen films eg ‘Airport’ – by Martin Doucet, Matthew Hardie, Cory Mulroney, and Dylan Sercombe. Cameos by well established comics Josh Price and Lara Thew round off this play which has many belly laughs. Very funny, great show.
The appeal of a play written in the 1770’s is pretty low on my list. Then when one finds that the story has ‘nothing of importance to say’ then one gets less than enthusiastic. How wrong can one be?
The era of the play – cleverly directed by Donald Pulford - is deliberately confused and achronistic, but this just adds to the point of the story – total confusion. It is about a young man, Marlow, chosen to marry Mr Hardcastle’s daughter by agreement of their fathers. Marlow is sent to the Hardcastle’s house being told it is a local inn, and here he treats Mr Hardcastle’s family and servants with disdain.
Of course the confusion becomes obvious to him, things are resolved, and they all live happily ever after. Yes the story will never win a literary prize but the characterisation might.
The opening scene starts to the strains of the comical Lincolnshire ‘Singing PostmanÂ’ performing ‘Have you got a light luv?Â’ so one immediately knows what type of humour to expect. Mr Hardcastle is brilliantly played by Tony Nicholls (of pantomime fame), acting at Curtin for the first time in some years. His wife (Sam Young) is exuberant, and with the fantastic costumes made by Bonnie Parker and Fiona Bruce, comes over tremendously. The other female leads, Sophie Dunham and Zoë Cooper capture their characters beautifully.
Whilst the main story line is progressing, almost throughout the whole play, there are these hilarious background happenings – as in Leslie Nielsen films eg ‘Airport’ – by Martin Doucet, Matthew Hardie, Cory Mulroney, and Dylan Sercombe. Cameos by well established comics Josh Price and Lara Thew round off this play which has many belly laughs. Very funny, great show.