Preview: A MAD WORLD MY MASTERS at Darlington Civic Theatre

A MAD WORLD MY MASTERS

Darlington Civic Theatre

Tuesday 14 to Saturday 18 April 2015

English Touring Theatre presents the Royal Shakespeare Company production at Darlington Civic Theatre, Tuesday 14 to Saturday 18 April.

The cast of A Mad World My Masters.

Photo by Manuel Harlan

Thomas Middleton, one of Shakespeare's greatest playwriting contemporaries and close collaborator on several plays, is most famous for writing two of the finest seventeenth-century tragedies, The Changeling and Women Beware Women. 

Nicholas Prasad as Master Muchly-Minted and

Charlie Archer as Master Whopping-Prospect

in A Mad World My Masters. Photo by Manuel Harlan

But he also created a brilliant array of witty and entertaining comedies set in early Jacobean London, which explore with relish a cutthroat urban world, where the "best art" of the inhabitants is "to dissemble well". A Mad World, My Masters is one of the most inventive of these London comedies.

The cast of A Mad World My Masters.

Photo by Manuel Harlan

The play takes its audience on an exhilarating ride through a series of plots and counterplots, with surprises around every corner and some clever comic plotting and dialogue.

The action weaves together two contrasted stories of trickery and deceit (one involving money, the other adultery), in which those who think themselves most cunning - and who may indeed seem to be so - do not always win the race.

The cast of A Mad World My Masters.

Photo by Manuel Harlan

Director Sean Foley has skilfully updated the action to take place in London, Soho... 1956. Glamour rubs up against filth, and likes it. The posh mix with musicians and racketeers and a dashingly penniless bachelor, in need of quick cash and a good time, finds he has to live on his wits.

Becoming a con-man to fool his rich uncle, he variously becomes a lord, a high class call girl, and – God forbid – a poor actor. But a beautiful Soho tart is also on the scam: a whore to some, a religious instructor to others, and a debutante in need of an eligible bachelor to yet more.

A fabulous cast has been assembled including Joe Bannister, Ellie Beavan, Ben Deery, Dennis Herdman, Ian Redford and Sarah Ridgeway.

A Mad World My Masters is disgracefully entertaining and fun with a capital F.

Lois Meleri-Jones as Escort in

A Mad World My Masters.

Photo by Manuel Harlan

Special Events

Free pre show talk Tuesday 5.45pm, limited availability, advance booking required.

Free post show talk Wednesday - Stay behind after the show to take part in a Q&A with some of the cast. Booking not necessary.

Education workshops also available.

On The Web:

Website: www.rsc.org.uk/whats-on/a-mad-world-my-masters/

Trailer: www.rsc.org.uk/whats-on/a-mad-world-my-masters/trailer.aspx

Tickets:

A Mad World My Masters is at Darlington Civic Theatre from Tuesday 14 to Saturday 18 April. Tickets* are priced from £17.40. Recommended age 12+.

To book contact the Box Office on 01325 486 555 or visit www.darlingtoncivic.co.uk 

*Includes a £1 restoration levy

Review: Jeeves and Wooster in Perfect Nonsense at Newcastle Theatre Royal

A Play To Lift Spirits

Jeeves and Wooster in

Perfect Nonsense

Newcastle Theatre Royal

Until 18^th October 2014.

PG Wodehouse wrote over 70 novels and 200 short stories and this resulted in the creation of one of the 20^th Centuries most enduring comedy couples: Jeeves and Bertie Wooster. The Goodale Brothers have adapted the stories to produce a comedy which is rich in humour that is faithful to the original source. The result is a fantastically fun play to savour.

As with many comedy pairings, there is often a funny guy and a straight guy but arguably Jeeves is the straightest of them all as he gets the laughs by, for example, simply wiping his brow. Bertie Wooster is the motor mouth who, like Black Adder III’s Prince George, has little appreciation of the hard work put in by those who support him.

As the curtain raises Bertie Wooster waxes lyrically about how he wants to tell a story and he seeks the support of Jeeves and another butler, Seppings, to fill in for the other characters. Jeeves immediately disappears to sort out some scenery for the set and the fun commences.

John Gordon Sinclair commands the stage as the formidable Jeeves.  It is clear that Sinclair has to work extremely hard jumping from one position on stage as Jeeves and reappear as one of the many characters he has to cover. His ability to portray the cool Jeeves between manic changes helps the audience to bond with the character. Robert Goodale, is likewise, called upon to oscillate between Seppings and many other characters. The two butlers pull off many lightning quick manoeuvres which are reminiscent of the slapstick comedy by the likes of Buster Keating.

The toff at the centre of the mayhem on stage is Bertie Wooster, who seems blissfully unaware of the impact of his actions in the world that his lives in. James Lance is virtually an ever present on stage, narrating the tale and orchestrating the comic mayhem with clinical precision. Moments when the cast break the fourth wall to discuss an issue with the audience work well too.

Great comedy needs great co-ordination and discipline. Director Sean Foley has the small cast of three working well in concert together to create many laughs throughout the show. Each of the scenes segues perfectly into one another ensuring the pace never drops. A mention should also be made to the unseen crew who help the show’s effects and costume changes appear effortless.

Perfect Nonsense is a rich team effort that kept the audience highly entertained in a fitting tribute to the literary great that was Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse.

This review was written by Stephen Oliver for Jowheretogo PR (www.jowheretogo.com). Follow Jo on twitter @jowheretogo, Stephen @panic_c_button or like Jowheretogo on Facebook www.facebook.com/Jowheretogo.