“You told me to expect something extraordinary, and I find the original exceeds the description.” So says Kate Hardcastle of Mr Marlow, a man of wildly fluctuating character depending on his being in the company of socially matched or ‘inferior’ women, and who has been lined up by Kate’s father to marry her.
According to records the character of Marlow reflects that of Anglo-Irish playwright Oliver Goldsmith himself, apparently more at home with earthy untutored women than with those highly educated. He had himself chosen to drop out of his medical degree course in Edinburgh for a life on the road in 18th century Europe, earning a crust by playing a flute. That he later reinvented himself as a man of letters with friends that would include painter Sir Joshua Reynolds and writer Samuel Johnson is an extraordinary tale in itself.
She Stoops to Conquer represents Goldsmith’s crowning glory – the £500 he was paid for it in 1773 sadly only earning him brief respite from omnipresent debt pressures. The play remains one of the few from its time to have endured, and has been adapted into multiple film and TV versions as well as appearing regularly in English literature syllabuses both here and in the US.
Led by the ungovernable antics of Mrs Hardcastle’s son Tony Lumpkin, played with gusto in his first professional stage performance by former president of the Cambridge Footlights Harry Michell, the play’s tension and resolve relies upon a practical joke that sets up some very silly mistaken identity scenes that beg patience of a contemporary audience!
Last night’s production in Bath was set in Edwardian times, and enjoyed a lavish revolving set designed by Simon Higlett that spun to reveal the Hardcastle’s comfortable home, the Three Pigeons pub and finally the mansion gardens by night.
A highly competent cast took us through the tale, but somehow there was a sense that the Edwardian social mores employed here were just a little too quaint to allow this farce to fly. But there were exceptional moments.
Anita Dobson, beloved by many for her appearances as Angie Watts in EastEnders and in Strictly Come Dancing stole the night with her hilarious entrance as the bedraggled, soaked and much-duped mother of the very naughty Tony. Michael Pennington seethed nicely throughout as Mr Hardcastle, and a very chirpy Catherine Steadman as Kate connived effectively to win her somewhat dubious (you’d have to say) man. That she seemed to look identical as both educated Kate and her adopted ‘barmaid’ persona for the sake of winning Marlow’s affections made the suspension of disbelief all the harder. But heyho! The slightly twisted Marlow, played by a youthful-looking Hubert Burton, also in his first professional stage debut, is easily duped! The subplot of the impending elopement of Mrs Hardcastle’s niece Constance (Charlotte Brimble) and Marlow’s friend Hastings (Jack Holden) lent depth to the overall proceedings.But while the play does touch on deeper questions of sexuality and class, for me it settles a little frustratingly in the end for sentimentality. ★★★☆☆ Simon Bishop 8/07/15
Photos by Manuel Harlan
