SHE STOOPS TO CONQUER. To 5 May.

Colchester

SHE STOOPS TO CONQUER
by Oliver Goldsmith

Mercury Theatre To 5 May 2007
Runs 2hr 40min One interval
Review: Timothy Ramsden 1 May

Clear and comic production.
Colchester’s Mercury stage is extended into the auditorium for Oliver Goldsmith’s comedy, helping this revival, jointly directed by Mercury boss Dee Evans and company actor Ignatius Anthony, recapture the closeness of actor and spectator in the 18th-century playhouse.

It allows easy acknowledgment by actors of the audience’s presence, whether responding to applause for a song or in the comic crescendo of Mrs Hardcastle’s muttering as she searches every offstage room for her missing jewel-box, ending in a comically agonised cry of loss.

Designer Sally Howard provides a spare yet elegant space, tilting slightly towards the audience, backed by a Gainsborough family portrait, reversing to antlers for the pub scene. The value of an ensemble company is clear in the playing of small roles. Roger Delves-Droughton is superbly confused as a rough servant suddenly given indoor work.

As is David Tarkenter, contrasting his still authority as pub landlord Stingo with Hardcastle’s servant Diggory who, having been told how to hold his arms, keeps them stiffly in the same position at every appearance. And Shuna Snow’s Jeremy, lost in the enthusiasm of drunken oblivion, is hilarious even when near-totally incomprehensible. Miranda Bell’s Pimple is a contrasting model of decorum.

Major roles have a clear, if somewhat uni-dimensional nature, like Tim Treslove’s Hardcastle, forcefully direct in his traditional tastes, the childlike innocence of Dale Superville’s mischievous Tony Lumpkin, or the smooth confidence of Martin Parr’s Marlow (there’s a delicious silent moment when the northern pub regulars register the newly-arrived Marlow and Hastings as Londoners).

Christine Absalom is a fine Mrs Hardcastle, floating busily about with her fussy fashion-consciousness. Yet, never over-fussy, she’s a real person rather than a grotesque. Best of all, Lizzie Hopley’s Kate reminds she’s the title character, the one who acts to achieve her aim.

It’s believable this young woman would have worked out a compromise with Hardcastle over her clothing, sharing the older styles he prefers and the fashion she likes between day and evening, while her ever-purposeful plotting and the smiling acknowledgment with which she finally admits her stratagems to her lover make this a fine, unsentimental portrayal.

Mrs Hardcastle: Christine Absalom
Mr Hardcastle: Tim Treslove
Tony Lumpkin: Dale Superville
Kate Hardcastle: Lizzie Hopley
Constance Neville: Charlie Morgan
Hastings: Justin Grattan
Young Marlow: Martin Parr
Sir Charles Marlow: Roger Delves-Broughton
Stingo/Diggory: David Tarkenter
Pimple: Miranda Bell
Jeremy: Shuna Snow

Directors: Ignatius Anthony, Dee Evans
Designer: Sally Howard
Lighting: Tony Simpson
Sound: Marcus Christensen
Movement: Sue Lefton
Dialect coach: Charmian Hoare

2007-05-08 23:50:33