Oliver Goldsmith's She Stoops to Conquer has always been one of my very favourite plays and I was thrilled that Theatre by the Lake in Keswick added it to their current Summer programme. Chris and I headed up to Keswick this week to enjoy a great play in a lovely theatre.
I've loved the play ever since I was introduced to it by my English teacher when I was thirteen. Mr Weir was the best teacher ever and we used to read plays aloud in his class. (His Lady Bracknell was quite simply heavenly, but that's a different story!) He introduced me to Shakespeare - Macbeth at twelve! Oscar Wilde, Oliver Goldsmith and many more. She Stoops to Conquer has always remained my favourite.
I love the characters - the Mummy's boy and country bumpkin, Tony Lumpkin; the constant Constance Neville and Kate Hardcastle who does indeed stoop to conquer the tongue tied and bashful Charles Marlowe. The play is a spiralling confusion of mistakes and misunderstandings, mischief and mayhem.
I love the fact that Goldsmith's play made such a change to the stage in England. In the 18th century, Restoration Comedy had reached unimaginable heights of rudeness and lewdness and the government of the day wanted to restrict the plays produced in the theatres. The result of this was that all theatre was moralistic and dull.
Goldsmith's play was written as a comedy of manners, or drawing room comedy, which ridiculed the manners of the upper classes and which poked fun at the class consciousness of the eighteenth century and satirized what Goldsmith called the "weeping comedy so much in fashion". Goldsmith single handedly succeeded in reinvigorating the English stage and breathing new life back into the theatre.
Theatre by the Lake's production was excellent. The costumes were spectacular as was the scenery and the acting was wonderful. It was well worth the drive to Keswick!
I've loved the play ever since I was introduced to it by my English teacher when I was thirteen. Mr Weir was the best teacher ever and we used to read plays aloud in his class. (His Lady Bracknell was quite simply heavenly, but that's a different story!) He introduced me to Shakespeare - Macbeth at twelve! Oscar Wilde, Oliver Goldsmith and many more. She Stoops to Conquer has always remained my favourite.
I love the characters - the Mummy's boy and country bumpkin, Tony Lumpkin; the constant Constance Neville and Kate Hardcastle who does indeed stoop to conquer the tongue tied and bashful Charles Marlowe. The play is a spiralling confusion of mistakes and misunderstandings, mischief and mayhem.
a
spiralling confusion of mistakes and misunderstandings, mischief and
mayhem. - See more at:
http://www.theatrebythelake.com/production/10248/She-Stoops-to-Conquer#sthash.49ZMdZaK.dpufis a
I love the fact that Goldsmith's play made such a change to the stage in England. In the 18th century, Restoration Comedy had reached unimaginable heights of rudeness and lewdness and the government of the day wanted to restrict the plays produced in the theatres. The result of this was that all theatre was moralistic and dull.Goldsmith's play was written as a comedy of manners, or drawing room comedy, which ridiculed the manners of the upper classes and which poked fun at the class consciousness of the eighteenth century and satirized what Goldsmith called the "weeping comedy so much in fashion". Goldsmith single handedly succeeded in reinvigorating the English stage and breathing new life back into the theatre.
Theatre by the Lake's production was excellent. The costumes were spectacular as was the scenery and the acting was wonderful. It was well worth the drive to Keswick!
Goldsmith’s
fast-moving romantic comedy with its gallery of unforgettable comic
creations is a genuine 18th century classic: hilarious and
heart-warming. - See more at:
http://www.theatrebythelake.com/production/10248/She-Stoops-to-Conquer#sthash.49ZMdZaK.dpuf
Goldsmith’s
fast-moving romantic comedy with its gallery of unforgettable comic
creations is a genuine 18th century classic: hilarious and
heart-warming. - See more at:
http://www.theatrebythelake.com/production/10248/She-Stoops-to-Conquer#sthash.49ZMdZaK.dpuf