Monday 7 September 2015

Stratford Festival 2015 # 3: The Conquest of Love

A delightful evening was had by a full house at Stratford's production of Oliver Goldsmith's evergreen delight, She Stoops to Conquer.  The play is one of the brightest lights in the entire eighteenth-century English theatrical canon, and has been performed at Stratford more often than any other play from that rich period of comic theatre history.

Perhaps better than any other play I know, this one fits to the generic term "comedy of manners" like a hand slipping into a custom-made glove.  The whole issue of manners and appropriate behaviour is one of the great and abiding concerns of many of the characters.  And it is generally the lack of appropriate manners, whether temporary or permanent, whether situational or ubiquitous, that generates much of the laughter.

Just because a play is well-known doesn't mean it's easy to stage well.  She Stoops to Conquer has had its fair share of productions that simply laid down and died from sheer boredom -- including the last two stagings of the play which I have seen.  This one, however, began lively and brilliant -- with the verse prologue included -- and stayed that way right through to the whimsical staging of the epilogue at the end of the final scene.

Set designer Douglas Paraschuk certainly had a tall order to fill, as this play moves through a number of different scenes.  The central portions of set were mounted on a revolve, with sets being changed behind scenes while the play was in progress.  There were two separate wing portions which could be turned on their respective spots.  This clever solution allowed for a whole series of solid yet attractive period interiors to be created as needed. 

My one difficulty came with the main set for the sitting room of the house.  It was a lovely room, dignified, elegant, and very Georgian looking.  And why not?  Mr. Hardcastle, the owner of the house, states quite clearly that he likes old things, and he amplifies the point in a speech in the opening scene.  But this room appears to be brand-sparkling-new, as if the family had moved in only a month earlier.  This set definitely needed to be broken down a good deal more.  Ideally, to meet the description of "old" for that period, would have been a well-lived Tudor room with panelled walls.

Charlotte Dean's costumes very effectively delineated character, and differentiated between the social classes and viewpoints of the characters.  I'm assuming that she was responsible for the particularly hideous wig worn by Mrs. Hardcastle, a wonderful crowning touch for that cranky woman!

Lucy Peacock wore that wig with immense hauteur and totally misjudged dignity, just the right note to sound with this character.  She made tremendous use of all the shades of her voice, her tone becoming progressively shriller as her level of irritation rose throughout the evening.  I particularly enjoyed the pure malice in her voice and face as she gloated over the supposed ruin of her ward, Constance.

Joseph Ziegler certainly caught all the bewilderment felt by Richard Hardcastle as his entire house is turned upside down and inside out by his visitors.  His very name reflects his repeated blustering insistence that he will be master in his own house, an insistence made all the funnier by the fact that he is always wrapped around anyone else's little finger at their whim.  Ziegler definitely evoked our sympathy for his predicaments!

Brad Hodder very effectively presented the two quite different sides of Young Charles Marlow, the man who becomes a total rake with barmaids and other women of that class and freezes into shy immobility when faced with a lady of good family.  I especially appreciated that he kept his dignity of bearing even when courting the woman he thought to be a maid of an inn, not becoming too familiar with her too quickly except in his words.

In that key role of Kate Hardcastle, the young lady who brings confusion upon Marlow, Shannon Taylor subbed in with great aplomb.  It's of a piece with the thoroughness of everything done at Stratford that she appeared as much at home in the part as her character did in the house.  Here, too, was another performance highlighted by beautifully varied use of the voice and a clear, expressive face as well.

If Young Marlow is a flirt of the first order (with women of lower birth), his friend George Hastings stands by contrast for constancy and faithfulness.  Tyrone Savage played Hastings as a friend and confidant, but also as a man ardently in love yet conscious of the obstacles he faces.  His voice came across particularly clearly, even when facing away from the audience.

His lady love, Constance Neville, can sometimes be portrayed as a two-dimensional nobody in particular.  Sara Farb presented us with a smooth, accomplished manipulator, using a wonderful stock of techniques for distracting her guardian, Mrs. Hardcastle and a sparkling, ingratiating manner when dealing with that difficult personage.

And not least, that brings us to Karack Osborn as Tony Lumpkin, the man who twists everyone else into knots and then has the pleasure of untying them all.  Too often, Tony appears as a whining, sullen, sulky child-man.  Osborn gave a much more ingratiating portrayal of a mercurial trickster, chafing under the iron hand of his oppressive maternal parent, but actually a very likable fellow on the whole.  Unusual, and very refreshing interpretation.  His singing of the drinking song in the tavern was a particular delight -- as was the entire company of diverse characters gathered around him there.  A small note, and for my money totally unimportant anyway, there was no bear and the reference to one was cut. 

Director Martha Henry has blown away the cobwebs apt to accumulate on this classic comedy and given it a fresh, brisk, bright-eyed production that engages from first to last. 

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