Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh
3 stars
“She's a woman!” shrieks the lovelorn protagonist of Moliere's
tragi-comedy at one point, as he realises the object of his affections
has come of age in spades. It's an all too telling indication of how
older blokes can tend to infantilise young girls who turn out to be far
smarter and far more grown up than they bargained for. In Liz
Lochhead's scurrilous Scots patois reimagining of the French farceur's
play, School For Wives, chief shagabout Arnolphe takes things way too
far in his cradle-snatching stalking of seemingly innocent ingenue
Agnes, who in turn falls head over heels for gangly Horace.
Set against the bricks and mortar of an auld Reekie set,
on one level Tony Cownie's production is standard workaday rep fare,
all low-key knockabout and chewily inflected gags. Look closer in the
second half, though, and there's a dark pathos to Arnolphe's mid-life
crisis. Things tellingly open with a lamp being doused as morning
breaks on Arnolphe's grand scheme. By the time night falls in the
second half, however, Agnes has come of age, and no matter how
pathologically obsessive her suitor becomes, the little girl he once
knew is more grown up than he'll ever be.
There's an airy brightness to Cownie's production, and if Peter Forbes'
Arnolphe could be s bit more Bill Wyman in the object of his
affections, this is made up for in the depth of his persuasions.
Kathryn Howden and Steven McNicoll are in fine form as a dunder-headed
double act of servants who by the end rise above their master who, left
with nothing, looks finally to have had his day.
The Herald, April 11th 2011
ends
3 stars
“She's a woman!” shrieks the lovelorn protagonist of Moliere's
tragi-comedy at one point, as he realises the object of his affections
has come of age in spades. It's an all too telling indication of how
older blokes can tend to infantilise young girls who turn out to be far
smarter and far more grown up than they bargained for. In Liz
Lochhead's scurrilous Scots patois reimagining of the French farceur's
play, School For Wives, chief shagabout Arnolphe takes things way too
far in his cradle-snatching stalking of seemingly innocent ingenue
Agnes, who in turn falls head over heels for gangly Horace.
Set against the bricks and mortar of an auld Reekie set,
on one level Tony Cownie's production is standard workaday rep fare,
all low-key knockabout and chewily inflected gags. Look closer in the
second half, though, and there's a dark pathos to Arnolphe's mid-life
crisis. Things tellingly open with a lamp being doused as morning
breaks on Arnolphe's grand scheme. By the time night falls in the
second half, however, Agnes has come of age, and no matter how
pathologically obsessive her suitor becomes, the little girl he once
knew is more grown up than he'll ever be.
There's an airy brightness to Cownie's production, and if Peter Forbes'
Arnolphe could be s bit more Bill Wyman in the object of his
affections, this is made up for in the depth of his persuasions.
Kathryn Howden and Steven McNicoll are in fine form as a dunder-headed
double act of servants who by the end rise above their master who, left
with nothing, looks finally to have had his day.
The Herald, April 11th 2011
ends
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