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She Stoops to Conquer by Oliver Goldsmith Directed by Barrie Addenbrooke She Stoops to Conquer was written in 1771 and has been a popular staple of the repertoire ever since appearing in over 300 different editions. The play is a romp a riotous comedy often bordering on farce. A gentle satire of town against country in which neither side really wins. The play will be presented as a pantomime, or more precisely a clear reading of the text playing up the elements of traditional panto. She Stoops to Conquer will be performed at the Landor Theatre from Tuesday 4th to Saturday 8th December 2007. Reviewed by Jack Wanderman I didn't want to like this play. Seriously, a comedy written in 1771 about mistaken identity, performed in a pantomime style with 'hilarious' cross-dressing and with random bits of singing thrown in. This really, really should have been rubbish. But, damn it, they broke me. I managed to scowl for the first few scenes but after about 15 minutes a smile had taken over. This really was an irresistibly charming and funny production. Amy Edge as Kate Hardcastle, the love interest, is simply perfect. Radiant, engaging, convincing, funny - one of the best performances I have seen in a long, long time. A delivery that makes a mockery of the distinction between West End and Fringe theatre. A star. The premise for the play is that Kate's father invites a friend's son, Charles Marlowe (Louise Makker) to visit in order to matchmake him with Kate. Marlowe mistakes Kate's house for an inn and farce ensues. Makker gives a strong performance, walking a difficult line between 'comedy posh oaf' and 'annoying posh oaf' and getting away with it. Of course, a key part of any pantomime is its Dame, here played by Richard Williams. The toughest thing here is probably just having the balls to get out there and perform, so well done for this suitably 'ooh-er' performance. Barrie Addenbrooke's direction is not without fault but his overall concept is inspired and the show is consistently impressive. Most of the male parts are played by women; cross-dressing more in the style of Peter Pan than Lily Savage. A crucial question, though: this cross-dressing business, does it work? To a large extent, 'yes'. It would be easy to suggest that this decision was a neat way to deal with the surfeit of women auditioning for KDC but to do so would be unfair. It remains unclear whether Director Addenbrooke intended this to challenge gender stereotypes, arouse the audience or 'just be a bit funny' but, in fact, it does all three. Okay, so this isn't the cleverest thing ever. Nor is it the most moving, life-changing or ground-breaking production in the world. But it is very, very funny, utterly charming and many, many times better than most plays you will see this year.
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