Wednesday 11 November 2009
Five Floosies attended a play at the Nuffield called “The Hypochondriac” – Angie, Carolyne, Janet, June and Marie. It was a “pay what you like” night and we all got tickets for just £5 each – excellent value considering the play was sold out for its entire run! We had good seats only 4 rows from the stage, which were comfortable with plenty of leg room – a nice change for The Nuffield! The play was really worth seeing – it was humorous and extremely well performed.
“Argan is a perfectly healthy and wealthy gentleman, convinced that he is seriously ill. So obsessed is he with medicinal tinkerings and tonics that he is blind to the goings on in his own household.”
His wife is only after his money and wants to encourage his daughter to become a Nun but he wants his daughter to marry a Doctor – but she is in love with a young man who is not a doctor – and so the plot thickens.
“However, his most efficacious cure for his hypochondria will not appear in a bottle or a bedpan, but in his sharp-tongued servant, who has a cunning plan to reveal the truth and open her master’s eyes…”
Roger McGough adapted this play from a classic Molière comedy. This time he turned prose into verse with a witty laughter tonic. The rhyming couplets had us laughing – especially some of the somewhat dubious pairings, such as “criminal” and “woman’ll (be mad)”. The added bonus of the handle of the poe coming off was carried off wonderfully by the principal actor.
Good use of stage entrances and exits, with a tall cupboard full of medicines, potions and pills – not to mention the jars of “samples” stored by Argan – eww.
A great play with some good set pieces – the monologues of Argan’s intended boorish son-in-law were performed magnificently. The maid/Italian doctor was carried off cheekily. The mad doctor, the enema nurse, the greedy wife, the loving daughter, the beau – all were excellent – although the star of the show was undoubtedly Argan.
Good writing, good acting, good seats and good company – who could ask for a better evening?
Juniper Berry June
Branch Manager
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