This morning I was taking stock of the shows on offer and realised I had completely forgotten about the return of Mrs Warren’s Profession. The play will start previewing at the Comedy Theatre on the 16th March. George Bernard Shaw’s most provoking and scandalous play (it was written in 1893, but banned until the 1920’s) is a great piece, highlighting the hypocrisies of the Victorian age that was slowly coming to an end.
Felicity Kendal will star in Mrs. Warren's Profession at The Comedy Theatre
The profession in question is the catalyst for the events of the play. Mrs Warren’s daughter has led a life of relative privilege, but as she moves into adulthood, she begins to question just how her mother was able to provide this life.
The play has long been on students’ reading lists and a source of insight into the late 19th century British society. The Victorian public image remains noble, but privately a fascinating underbelly is also presented, realising the duality of the era.
Felicity Kendall, who is appearing quite frequently in the West End these days, will play the infamous Mrs Warren. She’s a fantastic actress and will add an extra element to this classic.
Discount tickets are available for Mrs Warren’s Profession for midweek performances until the 15th April; top price tickets normally £48.75 are reduced £38.75.
Buy your Mrs Warren’s Profession tickets here.
Posted by Lisa Denton on Friday, March 5, 2010 at 12:16 pm
Filed under Featured, Gallery, Hot Offers, Theatre News, Uncategorized, plays · Tagged with Comedy Theatre, Felicity Kendal, George Bernard Shaw, Mrs. Warren's Profession
Matt Lucas will be the latest celeb to take on a West End role, as Simon Bent’s
Prick Up Your Ears is staged at the Comedy Theatre in September. Lucas will play Kenneth Halliwell, who was the lover of playwright Joe Orton - and also his murderer. After Orton achieved success with great plays
Entertaining Mr. Sloane and
Loot, Halliwell bludgeoned him to death in 1967 in the flat they shared and then killed himself by overdosing on drugs.
This sounds quite shocking, especially as these events occurred in 1967, but right up my street. I love dramatisations of historical events, even if it does involve killing with a blunt object, (I know… this is not the nicest of subjects). But the role of Halliwell certainly sounds like a change of image for Lucas who is probably better known as his character Dafydd from Little Britain (the only gay in the village).
Except maybe it’s not. Prick Up Your Ears is actually quite funny, with the exception of its rather macabre outcome. The characters of Orton and Halliwell attempt to cope with the stifling claustrophobia of their one room flat in Islington by throwing caustic comments at each other, providing a very dark, but humorous domestic combat that drips with sharp wit. The story is told from Halliwell’s perspective and his increasing dissatisfaction as Orton’s career takes off, leaving Halliwell relegated to life out of the limelight. Apparently his role as housewife eventually pushed Halliwell over the edge….however, I still have to use some imagination to envision Matt Lucas, creator of some of the funniest visual characters on television, morphing into a jealous killer. I’m half expecting him to appear on stage in a latex suit with a rum and coke in his hand!
Well, we will all have to go and see the funny man take a stab (no pun intended) at a character that seriously loses the plot. Prick Up Your Ears will be on a regional tour from the end of August and will then move into the Comedy Theatre from the 17th September until the 6th December. Book your Prick Up Your Ears Tickets here.
Matt Lucas stars as Daffyd in Little Britain
