Changeling Theatre in conjunction with the Hazlitt Arts Centre have a summer Shakespeare Tour, staging The Merry Wives of Windsor at various outdoor venues in Kent, set in the 1950s with skiffle songs, and outfits of the period.
This evening the performance was held at Ightham Mote, a 14th century moated house; its historical and architectural importance may be guessed from the fact that it has a Grade 1 listed dog kennel.
My sister Sarah played the part of Mistress Page. The Changeling publicity billed her as follows:
(She was.) Sarah is pictured here in Act II, Scene I where she and Mistress Ford discover that they have both received the same love letter from Sir John Falstaff. The prosecution of the main part of the plot is established:Sarah Finigan is Mistress Page, one of the Merry Wives, returning after an absence of TWO years. And boy did the audiences miss her. Sarah ( or as we call her, Fin) has appeared in TWELFTH NIGHT as Maria, the Nurse in ROMEO & JULIET, a witch and Lady Bracknell in MACBETH & THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST. The last time we saw her was in THE BEGGARS OPERA/TAMING OF THE SHREW. She is going to be hilarious.
... Why, I'll exhibit a billThe same scene has the witty exchange:
in the parliament for the putting down of men. How
shall I be revenged on him? for revenged I will be,
as sure as his guts are made of puddings.
Mistress Fordwhich perhaps goes some way to justifying Hazlitt's irreverent description of the play as the Only Fools and Horses of its time. Tonight's performance was outstanding, conveying Shakespeare's humour with freshness and verve, making for a most enjoyable summer evening. The tour is running until early August (see Hazlitt for booking information.)
O woman, if it were not for one trifling respect, I
could come to such honour!
Mistress Page
Hang the trifle, woman! take the honour.
3 comments:
You might like to know that Ightam Mote a national trust property is well worth visiting in its own right. It is a moated building and very attractive. Inside the older part is a chapel built in 1540 by John Collins who had served twice as Lord Mayor of London. His son became an MP for ~Romney Marsh and was a cryto Catholic. His wife was a good Catholic and after his death and the house sold went to live in Yorkshire where it is said (I cannot prove this however) that she was imprisoned for the faith in York and died in Prison. The house also contains an Oubliette which is a window which is in fact a door and anyone trying to open the window will fall into the moat! It is said that a Puritan soldier fell in wearing his armour during the Civil War.
Thank you Father. I visited it a few years ago and was impressed by the display of complex joinery that is used in its construction. - no glue, or metal fixings IIRC.
Must visit again soon with your tips to hand...
Dear Father Finigan
The Internet Movie Database has a detailed resume of Mistress Page aka the brilliant Sarah Finigan http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1855955/resume
IMDb also provides us with details of my old friend from Addey & Stanhope School, Faith Isiakpere who produced the TV film Children of Africa for Nelson Mandela http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1126241/#director . The full cast list makes for very interesting reading.
The C of E's Father Peter Fellowes, and Nick Daubeny the famous film location manager once appointed me as Community Liaison Officer for Deptford/London on the Neil Jordan film for Hollywood Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994) at St Paul's Church, Deptford SE8.
As Community Liaison Officer for London, I was partly responsible for getting all the scenes of occult gratuitous violence involving Brad Pitt and the poet Heathcote Williams cut.
I presented the script to Father John Collier of St Lawrence's R.C Church in Sidcup, and told him that I believed that the scenes involving Brad Pitt's vampire attack, and murder, of the priest played by Heathcote Williams on holy ground, were so violent that they had deliberately been omitted from the main shoot at rich New Orleans R.C Cathedral, and transferred to the poor Baroque backdrop at St Paul's C of E Deptford, who couldn't afford to say NO.
All the St Paul's SE8 scenes were cut after Father Collier's subsequent intervention, and I seem to recall Dustin Hoffman using our very words 'gratuitous violence' in an SOS film industry campaign response.
The film had a star cast, a multi million dollar budget and a 666 script.
In my professional opinion Hollywood owes poor England 999 serious damages for that piece of artwork, which I consider to be a malevolent attack on our group soul.
PAPA RATZI ( http://www.thepapalvisit.org ) ORA PRO NOBIS!
Our Lady of the Rosary pray for us too!
Best regards
Roy Hobson aka Our Lady's "Vesper" ON-LINE +
ROY HOBSON FCES1990, FRICS1984,Grad Dipl QS
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