Theatre seasons off and running for the year, and a good one to start - to be expected with Simon Stone at the helm. The premise for its 'The Government Inspector' could all too easily have devolved into unattractively self-contemplative meta-for-its-own-sakeness, and indeed the first few minutes threaten just that. But there's a sure hand at work with this production, from scripting to production and direction and carried through by the performances,[*] and it takes off in richly comic - and, indeed, farcical - vein, and proves thoroughly enjoyable, with much to say about and with the language of theatre, among other things. It all comes together, and would have been a success even without the ultimate (musical) staging of 'The Government Inspector' itself - but that final play within the play (within the play) is the cherry on top as well as being the (almost) ending that was needed to complete it. Very good.
(w/ Cass, Erandathie & Cass's mum)
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[*] Good across the board, with some familiar faces, including Zahra Newman (who I was pretty sure I recognised from Stone's Cherry Orchard, and it turns out was also in Blood Wedding, Simon Phillips' Richard III from a few years back, and Joanna Murray-Smith's Rockabye), Robert Menzies and Gareth Davies.
(w/ Cass, Erandathie & Cass's mum)
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[*] Good across the board, with some familiar faces, including Zahra Newman (who I was pretty sure I recognised from Stone's Cherry Orchard, and it turns out was also in Blood Wedding, Simon Phillips' Richard III from a few years back, and Joanna Murray-Smith's Rockabye), Robert Menzies and Gareth Davies.
