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A
Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (Olivier)
The
National comes up trumps with a blissfully funny and musically vibrant
production of this 1962 Broadway classic.
| "It's
the perfect summer theatrical treat that just about anyone can
afford..." |
Presented
as part of the Travelex £10 season in the Olivier Theatre
– where 2/3rds of the seats are just a tenner – it's the
perfect summer treat that just about anyone can afford.
But they've not short-changed the show, either, giving it the full
casting and musical resources that it needs, as well as a witty
set and clever choreography.
And after the National's remarkable brushes with Greek tragedy (Iphigenia
at Aulis and Mourning Becomes Electra), isn't it uplifting
to find ourselves now revelling in a Greek comedy so brilliantly
inspired by the ribald plays of Plautus?
irresistibly
witty
Here, in front of three houses in Rome 200BC, is unleashed a series
of comic collisions in the guise of a hilarious Greek sex farce,
to the accompaniment of a pleasurably tuneful set of irresistibly
witty songs (Stephen Sondheim's first produced score for which he
wrote both songs and lyrics).
Director Edward Hall's sunny, funny production also honours the
clockwork precision of the writing of Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart's
book and the comic rigour of its construction.
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Tentative:
Desmond Barrit in the Frankie Howerd-style role of Pseudolus
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There's
also a set of seriously funny actors to bring it to life.
Though
Desmond Barrit is, for now, a little tentative - as a slave yearning
for his freedom and plotting to obtain it by securing the virginal
courtesan from the brothel next door for his young master Hero -
the show is stolen by Sam Kelly as Hero's lecherous old dad, very
keen on the young lady concerned himself, and by Hamish McColl as
Senex's slave Hysterium.
They
turn it into an evening of constant and reverberating comic delight.
Agree
or disagree with our review? Add your comments below...
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