| Immediate, entertaining and engrossing theatre |
At Mappa Mundi |
| Mappa Mundi- She Stoops to Conquer , The Stiwt, Rhosllannerchrugog , May 26, 2009 |
I feel there should be theatre awards in honour of Michael Green’s classic book, The Art of Coarse Acting. If there were then Mappa Mundi’s She Stoops to Conquer would be in contention in several categories.Firstly in the Coarse Scenery Changing slot for the glorious shift between Mr. Hardcastle’s house and the local inn, then back again. As the inn patrons realised that their pieces of furniture were in the wrong places and crossly moved them the audience thoroughly enjoyed the whole OTT business. For the Course Servant Acting Award Russell Gomer and Clêr Stephens would be out and out winners for the scene where Hardcastle tries to teach them how to properly treat their expected guests. And as for the gate, the one that appears in the middle of a living room pretending to be outside and insists that people treat it properly by opening and closing it and not walking around it as though it were a mere piece of scenery, it is in a comic class of its own. There is nothing at all wooden about its acting. It was just a shame it wasn’t able to take a bow at the end and any award would be fully deserved. But isn’t there supposed to be an almost perfectly constructed farce of romantic misunderstandings going on here? Well yes there is and it is present in all its comic glory. Keiron Self is superb as Marlowe, the young man who is tricked into thinking that his host’s house is an inn and who can only talk freely to his intended when he thinks she is the barmaid. Mali Tudno Jones is equally good as Kate never overdoing her ”barmaid” role and making us really care that this delightful, intelligent and high-spirited girl gets the man she really wants. Kathryn Dimery’s Mrs Hardcastle is a riot and the make-up she wears when formally dressed will win the Coarse 18th Century Slap award with no problem. The whole cast enters fully into the robust Restoration world and are particularly good at involving the audience, whether it’s by a look, an aside or by casting a man in the front row as a drunken servant. Peter Doran’s tight, fast direction ensures that Mappa Mundi’s particular strengths are there in full, hence my plethora of Coarse awards, while Goldsmith’s glorious play remains intact, the two blending into immediate, entertaining and engrossing theatre. |
Reviewed by: Victor Hallett |
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