Entertaining Mr Sloane

Synopsis

It may be Swinging 60s London but out in the suburbs, behind closed doors, Kath is lonely. Craving love and affection, Kath and her bachelor brother take a lodger. Soon, both become infatuated with the shady young tenant with a murky past - Mr Sloane.

Our Review:

2 February 2009

Triumphantly claiming the role of Kath in Entertaining Mr Sloane from Alison Steadman, who played it in a beehive hair-do and at full throttle eight years ago, Imelda Staunton conveys as much sex-starved pathos as suburban desperation, suddenly cleansing the carpet with a rusty old Eubank cleaner while her Dada lies beaten to a pulp behind the sofa.

Joe Orton’s 1964 breakthrough play thrives on these juxtapositions of fake niceness and shocking naughtiness, which is why it hasn’t dated. The carefulness of Peter McKintosh’s design maintains the musty period feel but doesn’t overdo the kitschiness, as that last West End revival did.

Orton’s subversive comedy was always one of cheek and attrition, and Nick Bagnall’s revival, though hampered by the edgy discomfort of Mathew Horne as Mr Sloane, whose lack of stage experience is all too evident, makes merry with period detail while p...

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Latest User Review

Gareth James - 7 April 2009:

This is an excellent revival, particularly for Imelda Staunton's fresh interpretation of Kath. Rather than the usual caricature, we get a deeply intelligent interpretation which is as sad as it is funny - a masterclass in acting. In all the fuss about Matthew Horne's casting, the fact that Simon Paisley Day and Richard Bremmer are also both superb seems to have been lost. Horne himself was ill, but his understudy Fergus March did very well indeed. Peter Macintosh's highly detailed period set just oozes early 60s. A treat....

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