Difference between revisions of "The Real Inspector Hound (1975)"

From sltarchive
Jump to: navigation, search
(Reviews)
(Reviews)
Line 38: Line 38:
  
 
Pirandello is the name most famously associated with the idea of setting off stage reality against external reality. Stoppard, pursuing it in light-hearted vein, has hit on the device of involving two critics, Moon the eternal deputy and his vain friend Birdboot, in the play they are supposed to be assessing. But they find they have a tiger by the tail, and I must take their lesson to heart whenever I find myself tempted to o'erleap the footlights to influence the course of events.
 
Pirandello is the name most famously associated with the idea of setting off stage reality against external reality. Stoppard, pursuing it in light-hearted vein, has hit on the device of involving two critics, Moon the eternal deputy and his vain friend Birdboot, in the play they are supposed to be assessing. But they find they have a tiger by the tail, and I must take their lesson to heart whenever I find myself tempted to o'erleap the footlights to influence the course of events.
 +
 +
Malcolm Saunders' production sited the critics up-stage, facing the auditorium, with the painted figures of their own fellow on-lookers behind them, like those immobile crowd scenes of early cartoons. Thus they were seeing the action back to front, since the characters were playing to us and not them, with the furniture arranged accordingly.
 +
 +
The production nicely caught the play's  vein of double parody,  in which words usually italicized as stage directions become actual dialogue, and critical comments are submerged in hectic actions.
  
 
== Gallery ==
 
== Gallery ==

Revision as of 12:15, 25 June 2009

Poster by Poster Designer

by Tom Stoppard

Directed by Malcolm Saunders

Performances: 14th & 15th March 1975, Theatre


Introduction

Text about the play

Cast

Crew

Not held in archive book please add if you worked on this show.

Reviews

"Two critics and a tiger2

Not content with 12 full productions for the 1974/75 season, the SLTC last week made a it baker's dozen by squeezing in two performances of TOm Stoppard's "The Real Inspector Hound", a short play with enough will and vigour for two full-length comedies from a less resourceful pen.

Pirandello is the name most famously associated with the idea of setting off stage reality against external reality. Stoppard, pursuing it in light-hearted vein, has hit on the device of involving two critics, Moon the eternal deputy and his vain friend Birdboot, in the play they are supposed to be assessing. But they find they have a tiger by the tail, and I must take their lesson to heart whenever I find myself tempted to o'erleap the footlights to influence the course of events.

Malcolm Saunders' production sited the critics up-stage, facing the auditorium, with the painted figures of their own fellow on-lookers behind them, like those immobile crowd scenes of early cartoons. Thus they were seeing the action back to front, since the characters were playing to us and not them, with the furniture arranged accordingly.

The production nicely caught the play's vein of double parody, in which words usually italicized as stage directions become actual dialogue, and critical comments are submerged in hectic actions.

Gallery

Reminiscences and Anecdotes

Members are encouraged to write about their experiences of working on or seeing this production. Please leave your name. Anonymous entries may be deleted.

See Also

The Real Inspector Hound (2000)

References

<references/>

External Links