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| Lynda Bellingham |
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Bellingham Updates Moliere for Marry at Jermyn StDate: 10 April 2002
Moliere’s 17th-century classic The School for Wives undergoes a 21st-century makeover in CP Sykes’ new adaptation Marry Me, You Idiot, starring Oxo mum Lynda Bellingham (pictured). The play has a limited season at London’s fringe Jermyn Street Theatre from 23 April to 25 May 2002.
In Moliere’s 1662 classic satire, Arnolphe wants to marry but is terrified of making himself a laughing stock and a cuckold. Today, women have gained their independence; now that they have their own careers and their own money, they can’t find the man to match them. In Marry Me, You Idiot, New York feminist Elinor Waugh’s young man, Andrew, has been brought up by women to be the perfect new man. But nature will out!
Bellingham, who stars as Elinor, is perhaps best known as the mother in Oxo’s long-running advertising campaign. She has also appeared in TV’s At Home with the Braithwaites, My Uncle Silas, Martin Chuzzlewit and All Creatures Great and Small, while on stage her credits have included The Sisters Rosensweig and Noises Off, directed by Michael Blakemore.
Bellingham is joined in the cast of Marry Me, You Idiot by Claire Andreadis, Samuel Board, David McAlister, Patrick Moncton and Jacki Piper. The production is directed by Chris Sykes and designed by Simon Scullion, with lighting by Adam Crosthwaite.
- by Tim Connor
