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Following the success of their Shakespearean productions The Comedy of
Errors (1999) “fizzed with vitality & mischief” (S.Wales Argus)" 'twas
excellent well done” (Derbyshire Times) “brilliant, inventive, fast moving and
funny” (Buxton Festival Fringe Review) and The Two Gentlemen of Verona (1998)
”one of the best shows around” (The Stage) both directed by James Reynard, Rain
or Shine' millennium production was Sheridan’s classic C18th comedy... |
Performed with a cast of 10 actors in period
costume, it brimmed with false identities, romantic entanglements, and parental
disapproval. Satirising C18th pretensions and sentimentality the play featured
larger than life characters including the immortal Mrs Malaprop “with her select
words so ingeniously misapplied, without being mispronounced.” thus coining a
new word for the English language - Malapropism.
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The Plot
Mrs. Malaprop is the aunt of a teenaged girl, Lydia Languish, who
rebelliously wants to love someone beneath her station in life. Lydia is pursued by a host
of suitors, one of whom is Capt. Jack Absolute. Absolute wins Lydia's heart by changing
his identity to an underpaid ensign.
It's fairly obvious where this is heading, but the delight is in watching
it unfold. There are a host of memorable characters, especially the swaggering Bob Acres.
Acres, a suitor and friend of Absolute, is a laughable "banty rooster" whose
pretentious bravado disappears at the first light of confrontation.
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Absolute's father, Sir Anthony Absolute is a target for Sheridan's
satire. He, and the English aristocracy, are shown as pompous and bullying.
Lydia is not the only woman being pursued. Mrs. Malaprop is sought by a
stereotypical Irish baron, Sir Lucius O'Trigger, whose last name refers to his propensity
to duel. And Sir Anthony's ward, Julia Melville, is pursued by a neurotic suitor named
Faulkland.
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