THE WOMAN HATER. To 2 February.
Richmond.
THE WOMAN HATER
by Fanny Burney.
Orange Tree Theatre To 2 February 2008.
Mon-Sat 7.30pm except 31 Dec 7pm Mat Sat & 27, 28 Dec, 3, 10, 17 Jan 2.30pm
no performance 24-26 Dec, 1 Jan.
Audio-described 15 Jan, 26 Jan 2.30pm.
Post-show discussion 25 Jan & Thu mats.
Runs 3hr 5min One interval.
TICKETS: 020 8940 3633.
www.orangetreetheatre.co.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 21 December.
Play and production to sit back and emjoy.
Fanny Burney, a hub of late 18th-century literary London, lived into her 90s, spanning the ages of Henry Fielding and Charles Dickens, kept copious journals, was clearly strong-minded. And wrote novels. Evelina, her first and best-known, runs to some 450 pages. But that’s a minnow, before she got into her stride. Camilla’s five volumes turns in at 2278 pages, The Wanderer at 2093.
Her plays show more restraint, but The Woman Hater still ticks along on a leisurely scale. In modern terms it’s surely Burney, rather than Shakespeare, who would be the TV writer. Serials were made for her.
Yet, as a revival of A Busy Day, presented by Show of Strength in Bristol, and at the King’s Head, indicated, Burney knew what she was about in terms of character and story. The Woman Hater has some delightful comic characters. There’s Sir Roderick, the man of the title, played with assured knight-of-the-shires exasperation by Clive Francis, his objection to having a woman in the house based on unhappy experiences.
And Lady Smatter, given an aptly energetic distraction by Auriol Smith. She’s a prodigious literary Mrs Malaprop, mis-assigning her misquotations with reckless confidence – or cheer, even when her vast stock of part-remembered tags comes adrift from several authors. Burney saves the most monumental till last, as a line from Pope’s Essay on Man gets reallocated to Shakespeare.
There are plenty more joys, including servants shuffling their master’s backgammon set to keep it from his sight, or honest Bob Sapling, unable to speak for himself when his sister Henny’s around. Nick Earnshaw’s cheery Bob and Amy Neilson Smith’s watchful Henny, jumping in to stop him making a fool of himself, are delightful.
It’s easy to see why any passage would attract a director of Sam Walters’ perception. It could all be a bit much together, but it hardly is in Walters’ lively account, further distinguished by a patchwork of costumes reflecting the nature of characters, from Vilma Holingbery’s excellent Nurse in 18th-century finery to modern-clad young lovers. And one who changes costume and character before our eyes, in this inventively comic evening.
Sir Roderick: Clive Francis.
Wilmot: Michael Elwyn.
Old Waverley: David Gooderson.
Young Waverley: Dudley Hinton.
Bob Sapling: Nick Earnshaw.
Stevens/Smith: Kieron Jecchinis.
SmLady Smatter: Auriol Smith.
Eleonora: Joan Moon.
Miss Wilmot: Jennifer Higham.
Sophia: Amy Noble.
Miss Henny Sapling/Phebe: Amy Neilson Smith.
Nurse: Vilma Hollingbery.
Prim: Teresa Jennings.
Director: Sam Walters.
Designer: Sam Dowson.
Lighting: Leanne Simmonds.
Assistant director: Katie Henry.
2008-01-02 19:42:49