She Stoops to Conquer

Published Wednesday 7 November 2007 at 13:05 by Pat Ashworth

This is so fresh and funny, a laugh-out-loud production played on a concave proscenium stage that looks as though it might cave in under its own weight at any minute. It comes with a witty new prologue and epilogue by Bryony Lavery, written for this location, and with the same impudently Brummie slant as the rest of the play.

A scarlet-clad Liza Goddard is Mrs Hardcastle. She relishes the accent and the foolishness but does it all so robustly that she never over-plays the role to become tiresome. She is well matched with Colin Baker as a stout and genial Mr Hardcastle, driven to such fury by the behaviour of Marlow (Matthew Douglas) that he rams a portrait over his head. It’s one of the most delicious moments of the play.

Jonathan Broadbent is the shock-headed Tony Lumpkin, held in a headlock at one point by Anne Hemingway’s refined and well-spoken cousin, Constance - “Observe their sport,” says Mrs Hardcastle fondly. Dorothea Myer-Bennett excels as a mischievous and intelligent Kate Hardcastle, engaging directly with the audience in the prologue and epilogue to prove that men really are from Mars and women from Venus.

Music captivates even before the rise of the mildewed stage curtain, flowing from Elisa Boyd’s sublime fiddle, Leon Hunt’s banjo and Aidan Clooke’s drumming. These minstrels are called on to lend atmosphere and to milk the moment as well as providing the jigs and jollity, and their assured and lively playing would alone be worth the ticket price.