Reviewed by James Karas
She Stoops to
Conquer receives a decent production directed
by Martha Henry at the Stratford Festival.
The plot
involves the old and highly reliable stunt of mistaken identity. Two young men
arrive in a country house and believe that they are in an inn. The owners of
the house are expecting visitors and treat the two men as guests.
Members of the company in She
Stoops to Conquer. Photography by David Hou.
Oliver Goldsmith
has woven some highly entertaining incidents around the mistaken identities
including romantic engagements and broadly humorous scenes. All of this is set
in 18th century England, in the country which means in a different
world from the sophisticated society of London.
Richard
Hardcastle (Joseph Ziegler) and his wife Dorothy (Lucy Peacock) are well-off
country folk who clearly lack the polish and sophistication of Londoners. They
are hoping that Charles Marlowe (Brad Hodder), one of the visitors from London,
will marry their daughter Kate (Maev Beaty).
The other
visitor is Marlowe’s friend George Hastings (Tyrone Savage) and he is enamoured
of Kate’s cousin Constance (Sara Farb). The other family relative who lives in
the Hardcastle mansion is Tony Lumpkin (Karack Osborne), an oaf and a practical
joker.
Aside from the
humour produced by Marlowe and Hastings acting like guests at an inn and the
Hardcastles being quite befuddled by such unbecoming conduct, young Marlow is painfully
shy with upper class ladies. He has no problem approaching the lower orders and
he does so by accosting Kate Hardcastle, posing as a bar maid, with audacity
and impudence.
There is no lack
of talent in the director and the cast. But there is a problem. The play is set
in the 18th century, in a country house which compares comically
with London society. The Hardcastles are country bumpkins with a distinct
accent. Ziegler and Peacock are no country bumpkins and the Ontario accent does
not classify them as boorish and comical.
Lumpkin is the
most boorish of all and he should be hilarious but in this production he is
merely funny. Beaty makes an attractive and enjoyable Kate as she stoops to
being a barmaid in order to snag Marlow.
Savage and
Hodder, dressed smartly like true gentlemen, cut fine figures as the two suitors
and Farb is an attractive and delightful Constance.
The numerous
servants are nicely exaggerated to produce laughter and they do.
The set by
Douglas Paraschuk revolves to show the interiors and exterior of the Hardcastle
mansion as well as the interior of the pub. A
Beautifully done and impressive design. The costumes by Charlotte Dean are high
class 18th century attire and, again, quite beautiful.
The fundamental
problem is that many Canadian actors cannot master an English accent and even
more so when a differentiation between country and city is required. Henry
chose the easy route of letting the cast speak in their native accent rather
than trying to produce English regional accents with probably disastrous
results.
There were
laughs but this is not the production of She
Stoops that one would kill for. That is clearly the approach of a purist
and if you don’t care about details like that you will enjoy a very fine
comedy. It is an exaggeration to say that watching this production was like
kissing through a fence – you get the message but not all the fun – but it is
not far from the truth.
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