She Stoops to Conquer

She Stoops to Conquer is a witty and hilarious play. If you have not seen it before, please don't let this version be your first time.

Mr. Hardcastle (Ian Redford) and Kate (Susannah Fielding) do great jobs. It's a shame I haven't seen them elsewhere. Unfortunately, they aren't able to carry the production themselves. The tone, pacing, casting and acting are all a bit off. Some of the performances are quite grating at times. Hastings seems as though he would have made a better Marlow. Marlow is not at all sympathetic. Mrs. Hardcastle delivers her lines in cringeworthy fashion. Constance started with a strong performance but later began to sound as though she were one of the Chippettes (imagine a rat drowning in a bathtub if all the air was replaced with helium). On the other hand, I watched some of her scenes at double speed so that may have had something to do with it.

Despite this being one of my favorite play, I had to watch this particular production over a three night period. It wasn't enjoyable enough to sit through and there are better things out there to see.