Alan Bennett’s third full length play, Habeas Corpus, is very much a product of the early seventies, embodying many of the attitudes that just wouldn’t be acceptable today. The Menier Chocolate Factory’s likeable revival uses the tagline “a play from a less enlightened era” and with Patrick Marber directing, the play is presented as intended.
Habeas Corpus is the very definition of farce, with the plot centring around the Wicksteed family and their Hove home. Cases of mistaken identity, miscommunication and downright deceit cause embarrassment for everyone, with often hilarious consequences. Almost every character is attempting to get their end away with another, and sometimes they don’t even care who.
There are moments where an uncomfortable silence falls over the audience, aside from the fact that our main character, Arthur Wicksteed (who we are told is 53) is using his position as a GP to seduce a teenage girl, we also have a clergyman forcing himself on to a woman who is repeatedly rejecting his advances.
Of course, it’s very difficult to resurrect a play that’s considered a classic without retaining elements that were once found humorous, but now are not. Thankfully, most of the script still works, and is actually wickedly funny in places, with Alan Bennett’s trademark dry wit complementing an outrageous plot.
There are little nods to Bennett throughout, most notably from Matthew Cottle as the aforementioned clergyman. But also, in the set design from Richard Hudson, returning to the plays original bare set, save for a coffin which serves as an examination table, a couch, and ultimately, a coffin.
As Arthur Wicksteed, Jasper Britton seems to have an air of Donald Sinden about him, Sinden played the role on Broadway, so perhaps the character just lends itself to that nasally kind of confidence. It is Catherine Russell, playing Muriel Wicksteed, who stands out from the crowd, with perfect comic timing and an enjoyable physical performance.
Ria Jones, better known for big musical theatre roles, is hilarious as the cleaning lady Mrs Swabb, who when not ‘oovering is being a right busy body, but also keeping the audience abreast of what’s going on. It is this character who introduces all the characters of the play in a gameshow style set up, a motif that’s repeated at various points in the play.
Thomas Josling makes his professional stage debut in the role of Dennis, the hypochondriac son chasing after Felicity Rumpers (Katie Bernstein). It’s a most enjoyable performance, and Josling does wonders as the long drip of a lad who would not have a chance of having a marriage proposal accepted, were it not for his medical condition.
Habeas Corpus is a play that would be unlikely to be written today, for very good reasons, but despite its obvious issues for contemporary society, it remains as a classic piece of the Bennett canon. While some of the jokes should be dead and buried, Patrick Marber has cleverly shifted focus to the rest of the play, and that’s enough to keep the audience laughing heartily.
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