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About 'She Stoops to Conquer'
She Stoops to Conquer, Oliver Goldsmith’s classic comedy of manners, tells of the clever schemes and comic ruses that unfold one night at a country house. An ambitious step-mother, impassioned sweethearts, a pragmatic father and a pair of star-crossed suitors are sent spinning through a hilarious comedy of errors by one of the great characters of the stage, Tony Lumpkin.
In its day, this eighteenth century masterpiece was considered so ‘low’ that it might never have reached the stage. When it was finally produced, it enjoyed immediate and lasting success, breaking the mould with its satirical swipe at polite society. Goldsmith made comedy funnier and more natural than the ‘sentimental’ stuff of his contemporaries – yet his characters burst with warmth as well as great wit. Max Stafford-Clark sets the story of the ultimate dysfunctional family in the hinterland of Lichfield. His triumphant production played to great acclaim at the National Theatre and on tour.
Cast & Production
CAST
Sir Charles Marlow / Roger NIGEL COOKE
Young Charles Marlow (his son) CHRISTOPHER STAINES
Mr Hardcastle IAN REDFORD
Mr George Hastings STEPHEN BERESFORD
Tony Lumpkin OWEN SHARPE
Landlord / Jeremy MATTHEW SIM
Diggory JASON WATKINS
Mrs Hardcastle JANE WOOD
Miss Kate Hardcastle MONICA DOLAN
Miss Constance Neville FRITHA GOODEY
Pimple BELLA MERLIN
PRODUCTION
Directed for the Stage by MAX STAFFORD-CLARK
Designer JULIAN McGOWAN
Lighting Designer JOHANNA TOWN
Music PADDY CUNNEEN
Sound Designer NEIL ALEXANDER
Choreographer WENDY ALLNUTT
Dialect Coach WILLIAM CONACHER
Company Voice Work PATSY RODENBURG
Assistant Director MATTHEW WILDE
FOR OUT OF JOINT
Producer GRAHAM COWLEY
FOR THE NATIONAL THEATRE
Producer PÁDRAIG CUSACK
FOR HERITAGE THEATRE
Producer ROBERT MARSHALL
Video Director ROBIN LOUGH
Our gratitude to the staff and patrons of the THEATRE ROYAL, BATH
Production photographs from the recording.
© Heritage Theatre Ltd.
Biographies
MONICA DOLAN: KATE HARDCASTLE
Monica Dolan last appeared with Out of Joint in Sliding with Suzanne by Judy Upton; and at the National in The Walls. Other theatre includes: The Glory of Living at the Royal Court; The Taming of the Shrew, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Henry V, Coriolanus, Measure for Measure, and Unfinished Business at the RSC; Hay Fever in the West End; An Experiment with an Air Pump at Hampstead; The Glass Menagerie at the Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh; Jane Eyre with Shared Experience on tour and at the Young Vic; Peter Pan at West Yorkshire Playhouse; Jane Eyre at Theatre Royal, York; To Kill a Mocking Bird, Outside Edge, and The Merchant of Venice at Exeter. Television includes: Tipping the Velvet, Dalziel and Pascoe, Judge John Deed, Verdict � Rape, Screen One: The Gift, The Bill. Film includes: Topsy Turvy and A Midsummer Night's Dream.
FRITHA GOODEY: CONSTANCE NEVILLE
Fritha Goodey trained at LAMDA. Previously with Out of Joint she appeared in Mark Ravenhill's Some Explicit Polaroids; and at the National in Remembrance of Things Past and Romeo and Juliet. Other theatre work includes: The Little French Lawyer, The Puritan, and The Inn at Lydda for Globe Theatre education. Television includes: The Lost Prince, A Case of Evil, The Red Phone, Hearts and Bones, Table Twelve, Randall & Hopkirk Deceased, Dr Willoughby, and Roger Roger. Film includes About A Boy. Radio includes After the Funeral and Pygmalion for audiobook.
BELLA MERLIN: PIMPLE
Following a degree in Drama and Theatre Arts at Birmingham University,
Bella Merlin continued her training at Guildford School of Acting and
Testate Institute of Cinematography in Moscow. She previously appeared
with Out of Joint in The Queen and I. Other theatre work includes Anna Karenina at Bolton Octagon, Phil and Jill and Jill and Phil at Coventry Belgrade/Swan Theatre, Worcester, Ubu Rules!, and Beauty and the Beast with Orchard Theatre Co, The Malvern Widow, Hard Times, Steaming, Can't Pay? Won't Pay!, The Turn of the Screw, and The Seagull at the Swan Theatre, Worcester, Orlando for the Lyric Hammersmith and Red Shift tour, Lulu at Chelsea Centre Theatre, Brighton Beach Memoirs, and The Cat and the Canary at the Haymarket, Basingstoke. Television includes Doctors, Acting With.., and The Empress. She recently recorded Lucy Gough's The Raft for radio. Bella Merlin is also a Lecturer in Drama and Theatre Arts at Birmingham University, with publications including Beyond Stanislavsky: The PsychoPhysical Approach to Actor-Training and the forthcoming Stanislavsky. She performed in her first play, Hit, alongside collaborator, Alexander Delamere, at the Octagon, Bolton.
JANE WOOD: MRS HARDCASTLE
Jane Wood's previous appearances with Out of Joint include The Queen and I and the double bill Rita, Sue and Bob Too/A State Affair; at the National, she was in Don Quixote. Other theatre work includes: Mrs Steinberg & the Byker Boy and Fosdyke Saga at the Bush; The Entertainer, This Story of Yours, and Comings & Goings at Hampstead Theatre; Eve of Retirement at the Gate; Tulip Futures for Soho Theatre Co; The Project at the Soho Poly; Gorky Brigade and Live Like Pigs at the Royal Court; Devil's Island, Epsom Downs, A Mad World My Masters with Joint Stock; The Prisoner's Pumpkin and To at Bristol Old Vic; Hated Nightfall with the Wrestling School; Nice Girls at the New Vic, Stoke; and Deadwood at the Watermill, Newbury. Television cred its include: Shipman,
Impact, Railway Children, First and Last, Precious Bane, The Monocled
Mutineer, The Russian Soldier, Good as Gold, Ball Trap on the Cote
Sauvage, A Time to Dance, Darling Buds of May, House of Elliott,
Bramwell, Casualty, The Bill, Heartbeat, Peak Practice, A Wing and a
Prayer, City Central, and Midsomer Murders. Film credits include: Persuasion; Smock and Thistle; Raggedy Rawney; She'll be Wearing Pink Pyjamas; Sakharov; and The Ragman's Daughter.
IAN REDFORD: MR HARDCASTLE
Previously with Out of Joint he appeared in Rita, Sue and Bob Too/A State Affair; Some Explicit Polaroids, Shopping and Fucking and Our Country's Good; and at the National as Princess Seraphina in Mother Clap's Molly House and in Free. Other theatre includes: Built on Sand; and Bruises at the Royal Court. He has worked in most theatres in the country in productions including: Tiger Tail at Drum Theatre, Plymouth; Agamemnon's Children at the Gate; M Butterfly at the Shaftesbury; Chapter Two at the Gielgud and Theatre Royal, Windsor; Hamlet at Chester Gateway Theatre. Television includes: Lovejoy; Coronation Street; EastEnders; Wycliffe and Animal Ark. He also played Larry Cotter in House of Elliott and Jimmy Plinth in September Song. Recently Who Killed Ruth Ellis?, Peak Practice, Second Sight and Trial by Fire. Film includes: Remains of the Day, Getting it Right, Just Like a Woman, Stone Scissors Paper, Three Men and a Little Lady, Orphan Annie, and The Prince and the Pauper.
OWEN SHARPE: TONY LUMPKIN
This is Owen Sharpe's first appearance with Out of Joint. At the National, he was in The Cripple of Inishmaan and Pericles. Previous theatre includes: The Lieutenant of Inishmore, Jubilee, Shadows, Purgatory, Bartholomew Fair, and The Lime Tree Bower for the RSC; The Barbaric Comedies, Mrs Warren's Profession, Macbeth, Madigan's Lock and A Thief of Christmas at The Abbey; Brighton Beach Memoirs and Billy Liar at Andrews Lane Theatre; Jacko at Hawks Well Theatre; Bugsy Malone at the Olympia Theatre; and Dear Jack at The Ark. Television includes: The Favourite, Crime Line, The Lolly Man, My Oedipus Complex, Deco and A Summer Ghost. Film includes: Borstal Boys, Leprechaun and My Left Foot.
MATTHEW SlM: LANDLORD/JEREMY
Matthew Sim trained at LAMDA and the National Youth Theatre. This is
his first production with Out of Joint. At the National he was in A Little Hotel on the Side, Mandragola, and Saint Joan. Other theatre work includes: The School for Scandal at Derby & Northampton; Merlin at Riverside Studios; Highway to Paradise at Arte DelTeatro Studio, Rome; Three Sisters at Chichester Festival; The Impresario from Smyrna at the Old Red Lion; Twelfth Night at Drill Hall; The Last Domain based on Le Grand Meaulnes at the Watermill, Newbury; The Royal Hunt of the Sun for Compass Theatre; Dealing with Clair at the Orange Tree; Charley's Aunt at Southwold; Arcade for Loose Exchange; Children of the Wolf at the Royal Northampton; Class Enemy at the Library Manchester; Peter Pan at the Crucible, Sheffield; Richard III at the RSC; The Two Noble Kinsmen for Cherub Theatre Co. Television includes:
Border Café, Monster TV, Middlemarch, Clarissa, Let Them Eat Cake,
Alice in Wonderland, A Dance to the Music of Time, Full Stretch, and The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. Film includes: Gangs
of New York, Ancient Warriors, The Emperor's New Clothes, In the
Beginning, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Interview with a Vampire,
Orlando, Without a Clue, Revolution, Maurice, Lionheart, An Englishman
Abroad, Scum, the short films Laws of Motion, Before I Die Forever and Straightforward Kenneth, and music videos for Moby and Goldie. He was also a member of the BBC Radio Drama Company from 1991-1992.
CHRISTOPHER STAINES: CHARLES MARLOW
This is Christopher Staines' first production for Out of Joint. Previous theatre includes: for the National, Hamlet and Amy's View(also in the West End); Silence at Birmingham Rep; Three Sisters at Chichester Festival Theatre; Gross Indecency. The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde at the Theatre Royal Plymouth and in the West End; Leonce and Lena at The Gate Theatre; The Belle Vue for ATC; A Midsummer Night's Dream, Richard III, and The Music Man in Regent's Park; The Simpleton of the Unexpected Isles, The Memorandum, Portrait of a Woman, and Flora the Red Menace at the Orange Tree; Cabaret at the Donmar; An Evening with Gary Lineker at the Royal Theatre, Northampton. Television includes: The Student Prince, This Life, The Queen's Nose, Pride and Prejudice, Highlander, The Ruby Ring, and Good Friday 1663. Film includes: Mrs Dalloway. Radio includes: Dossier Ronald Akkerman, The Rose and the Ring, The Charm Factory, The Decameron and Antigone.
JASON WATKINS: DIGGORY
Jason Watkins' previous appearances with Out of Joint include Blue Heart and Man of Mode/Libertine. At the National, he was in Inadmissible Evidence. Other theatre work includes: Bedroom Farce at the Aldwych Theatre; Boy Gets Girl, King Lear, and Rafts and Dreams at the Royal Court; A Servant to Two Masters
for the RSC, at the Young Vic, New Ambassadors, on a world tour, and at
the Albery Theatre, for which he received an Olivier Award nomination
and, in the United States, the Helen Hayes Award for Best Actor; Kissing the Pope, Plantagenets, and The Plain Dealer for the RSC; Kafka's Dick, Filumena at the Piccadilly Theatre; After Darwin at Hampstead Theatre; A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Almeida; Habeas Corpus at the Donmar; My Night with Reg at the Criterion and Playhouse Theatres; One Flea Spare, and Keyboard Skills at the Bush; A Handful of Dust for Cambridge Theatre Company; The House of Yes at the Gate; The Rivals at Nottingham Playhouse; True West, The Government Inspector, and As You Like It at the Crucible Sheffield; Timon of Athens at the Young Vic; Jack the Giant at the Royal Exchange, Manchester. Television includes: Saving
Grace, The Russian Bride, Sex �N' Death, Couples, Bostock's Cup, Duck
Patrol, Good Guys ,Grown Ups, Casualty, Between the Lines, The Buddha
of Suburbia, Pie in the Sky and Soldier, Soldier. Film includes: Sabotage, Tomorrow Never Dies, Circus, Eugene Onegin, High Hopes, and Split Second.
OUT OF JOINT
MAX STAFFORD-CLARK: DIRECTOR
Founded Joint Stock Theatre Group in 1974 following his Artistic
Directorship of The Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh. From 1979 to 1993 he
was Artistic Director of the Royal Court. In 1993 he founded Out of
Joint. His work as a director has overwhelmingly been with new writing
and he has commissioned and directed first productions by many of the
country's leading writers.
JULIAN MCGOWAN: DESIGNER
Julian McGowan's work for Out of Joint: Feelgood at the Garrick; The Steward of Christendom, Blue Heart, and Shopping and Fucking with the Royal Court; Some Explicit Polaroids, Our Country's Good with the Young Vic; Our Lady of Sligo with the NT; The Positive Hour with Hampstead Theatre. For the Royal Court: Where Do We Live, I Just Stopped By to See the Man, Mr Kolpert, Toast, The Censor, American Bagpipes, and The Treatment. Other theatre includes: Four Nights at Knaresborough for New Vic Workshop at the Tricycle; Enjoy, Blast From the Past, Waiting far Godot, Don Juan, The Lodger, and Women Laughing at the Royal Exchange, Manchester; The Possibilities, Venice Preserv'd, The LA Plays at the Almeida; Heart Throb at the Bush); The Wives' Excuse for the RSC; Caesar and Cleopatra, Total Eclipse, and A Tale of Two Cities at Greenwich; The Rivals, Man and Superman, Playboy of the Western World, and Hedda Gabler. Opera includes: Cosi Fan Tutte for New Israeli Opera; Eugene Onegin for Scottish Opera; Siren Song for Almeida Opera Festival.
JOHANNA TOWN: LIGHTING
Johanna Town has worked on numerous Out of Joint productions including:
Hinterland, Rita, Sue and Bob Too/a State Affair, Some Explicit
Polaroids, The Steward of Christendom, Shopping & Fucking, Our Lady
of Sligo, Blue Heart and Feelgood. She has been Head of Lighting at the Royal Court for the past twelve years and has lit theatre productions including: The Kitchen, Faith Healer, Pale Horse, Search and Destroy, Women Laughing and most recently: Where
Do We Live, Plasticine, Fucking Games, Nightingale & Chase, I Just
Stopped By To See The Man, Spinning into Butter, Mr Kolpert and Under The Blue Sky. Other recent theatre credits include: Popcorn, Playboy of the Western World, Les Liaisons Dangereuses at Liverpool Playhouse; She Stoops to Conquer for Kent Opera; Top Girls for Oxford Stage Co/Aldwych West End; Arabian Nights for New Victory, New York; Ghosts at the Royal Exchange Theatre; Rose at the Lyceum, New York; Little Malcolm and His Struggle Against the Eunuchs in the West End. Opera credits include: Tobias & the Angel for the Almeida Opera festival; La Bohème, Die Fledermaus, and La Traviata for Music Theatre London; Abduction from the Seraglio, Marriage of Figaro for Opera 80; Marriage of Figaro, Otello for Opera de Nice, France.
PADDY CUNNEEN: MUSIC
Paddy Cunneen first worked with Out of Joint on the score for Hinterland.
He has worked extensively as a composer and music director in theatre
throughout the UK and Ireland. His work runs to well over 100
productions for the National, the RSC, Cheek By Jowl, the Donmar
Warehouse, the Abbey, Gate and Druid Theatres in Ireland, Manchester
Royal Exchange, the Royal Court, the Liverpool Everyman and many
others. In addition he composes for BBC Radio Drama, RTE Radio Drama
and has a number of TV and film credits. He is a recipient of the
Christopher Whelen Award for Music in Theatre.
GRAHAM COWLEY: PRODUCER FOR OUT OF JOINT
Graham Cowley has been Out of Joint's Producer since 1998. His long
collaboration with Max Stafford-Clark began when he was Joint Stock
Theatre Group's first General Manager for seven years in the 1970's. He
was General Manager of the Royal Court for eight years, and on their
behalf transferred a string of plays to the West End.� His
career has spanned the full range of theatre production, from small
fringe companies to major West End shows and large scale commercial
tours. Most recently, he transferred the Royal Court's production of The Weir to the West End, produced A Kind of Alaska at the Edinburgh Festival and in the USA, and Harry and Me at the Warehouse Theatre, Croydon.
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