Rookery Nook
From: Thursday, 16th April 2009
To: Saturday, 20 June 2009
Our Review: 
Your Reviews:
Search for tickets
Use the link below to search for Rookery Nook tickets on your desired date.
We're sorry, it seems that we do not currently sell tickets for this show. Please go directly to the box office.
| Tweet |
|
Synopsis
It's the summer of 1926 and newly married playboy Gerald Popkiss arrives alone at Rookery Nook in Chumpton-on-Sea, Somerset, without his wife Clara who has been forced to stay in Bath with her ailing mother. In the dead of night, a beautiful young woman appears wearing nothing but her dew-soaked silk pyjamas, having fled her tyrannical German step-father and begs to stay at Rookery Nook. Touched by her innocence, Gerald promises to help the girl but where can he find her some clothes? And how can he keep her hidden from the meddling maid and his sister-in-law? First performed in 1926.
Our Review:
30 April 2009
The Aldwych farces of Ben Travers have a venerable place in our theatre history, lip service often paid to them as a bridge between Pinero and Alan Ayckbourn – via the trouser-dropping antics of Brian Rix and his Whitehall farce team.
But the interest in Travers reignited by the National’s revival of Plunder in the mid-1970s, followed by the old playwright’s (he died aged 94 in 1980) final liberated fling in The Bed Before Yesterday, has only been sporadically maintained. They are period pieces possessed of manic energy, very difficult to make work today.
Terry Johnson’s Menier revival follows Dominic Dromgoole’s for the Oxford Stage Company four years ago as a charming reminder of trademark Travers. And Tim Shortall has designed a handsomely beamed holiday home, Rookery Nook in Chumpton-on-Sea, where Gerald Popkiss (Neil Stuke) has come ahead of his new bride and her mother only to find himself assailed by a distraught beautiful girl, Rhoda Marley ([K...
Latest User Review
Tim Landar - 30 April 2009:
Not very good, I'm afraid. Badly directed, with some poor timing and a couple of excruciating performances from the 'daily woman' and the colonel. The best efforts of some of the more talented cast members can't save this flop. A shame after the Menier has been on such a roll, but this is miles away from the classy 'Night Music'. ...
Cast
Edward Baker-Duly (Clive)
Lynda Baron (Mrs Leverett)
Nick Brimble (Putz)
Mark Hadfield (Harold)
Kellie Shirley (Rhoda)
Neil Stuke (Gerald)
Clare Wilkie (Clara)
Sarah Woodward (Gertrude)
Alan Thompson (Juddy)
Creative
Ben Travers (Author)
Menier Chocolate Factory (Producer)
Terry Johnson (Director)
Tim Shortall (Design)
Jason Taylor (Lighting)
Related Whatsonstage.com Articles
Information
|
