Press
17 August 2010: 'The Mandrake' review highlights from Broadway Baby:
'The actor playing Soonrot is the jewel in the play's crown, preventing his character lapsing into the stock petty-tyrant with his blustering, spluttering speech and expressive fish-eyed facial agility. His delusions of grandeur are revealed as hollow from the moment when, asked about his youthful travelling, he sonorously announces 'I have been... to Windsor!' as if the Berkshire tourist-trap were as far as Timbuktu. He also reveals himself as spectacularly keen to allow his own wife to be used as a sexual pawn in this institutionally misogynist society, pimping her to a disguised Leaveland to bring out the venomous side-effects of the fraudulent potion to clear the way for himself to produce an heir.'
'When it appears, the potion is a suggestively thick, milky concoction. Sexual impropriety is never far from the surface, justified by the parson Mr Wrenchtext's devious maxim: 'it is the will that sins, not the body.' A later pronouncement that two sermons will suffice to 'wipe off' the great evil of watching a play gets a laugh of knowing recognition from the complicit audience. Mistress Soonrot herself is perhaps the key to this play's worldview, moving from religious repression to breathless sexual awakening in the course of an evening, and she makes a powerful impression in her few short scenes, unleashing the perhaps inevitably fetishised potential of her buttoned-up secretarial wear.'
'There are some great one-liners, jaunty zither music, and a coffee percolator filled with urine - probably not a feature of any other Edinburgh show.'
'Foul Papers...sing and swing with modern vigour'
16 August 2010: 'The Mandrake' review highlights from The Stage:
'Matthew Howard defines the lover by boyish enthusiasm and impatience that
quite rightly sometimes make him almost as comical as dashing, and although
Jeremy Bourget's comic shtick as his servant is essentially irrelevant, it
feeds nicely into the play's silliness.
Rob Stott is attractive as the devious pal'
10 August 2010: 'The Mandrake' review highlights from Fest:
'the company succeeds...in making depravity compelling. Most watchable is Rob Stott as sponger Lackwealth who, for a substantial fee, enables the lead to "do the nasty" with the object of his lust. Andrew Boxer, who plays this unfortunate, earns laughs as he ensures his wife's adultery'
'It's a strong production'
7 August 2010: 'The Mandrake' review highlights from Edinburgh Spotlight:
'this production is a fun, witty and dexterous romp'
'Director Luke Beattie has no need for a set as he inspires his actors to fill the space, use the auditorium well, really connect with their audience and infuse their delightfully devious characters with detailed life'
'The recorded sound – Michael Whytock’s original harpsichord music – builds environment well right from the start'
'The pace is moved forward by the hero’s energy and Lackwealth’s spirited guile'
'while
The Mandrake is a longer-than-usual Fringe offering (1hr. 30), the
time spent is richly rewarded. This is mostly due to the detail in
direction and performances: Matthew Howard,
in an emotional roller-coaster of a role as Leaveland, sets up the
other
characters beautifully before they ever appear; Rob Stott’s Lackwealth
communicates thoughts with great clarity; Jeryl Burgess creates a fully
textured and hilarious Old Lady to counterpoint her impeccable
heroine’s
mother; the heroine herself, played by Claire Jared, makes a lovely
piece of
her response to all the machinations, and John Canmore delivers the
wily parson
with aplomb and a delightful wink or two to the ladies. If you love to
see people sinking their thespian teeth into complex classical
thought and dialogue and sharing their sumptuous feast with you, then
make sure
you attend this serving of The Mandrake potion!'
Audience comments:
'Don't miss this opportunity to see a rarely performed classic of early renaissance drama. Performed in the round and acted with pace. A lively, fun production, with a suprisingly contemporary feel.' (24 August 2010)'Absolutely fantastic, very enjoyable! Thanks!' (11 August 2010)
2 August 2010: 'The Mandrake' preview article on the Skinny website
19 July 2010: 'The Mandrake' preview coverage on the Three Weeks website
29 June 2010: 'The Mandrake' Press Release:
Foul Papers Theatre Company presents
The Mandrake
An English translation and adaptation of
Machiavelli's great satire, La Mandragola
By James Compton, 3rd Earl of Northampton
London's brand-new Foul Papers Theatre Company is delighted to announce its inaugural production: the world-premiere of The Mandrake, a 350-year-old English translation and adaptation of Machiavelli's great satire, La Mandragola. The adaptation is by James Compton, 3rd Earl of Northampton, an important Royalist military leader at the time of England's Civil War. The production will premiere at the 2010 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
The Mandrake tells the story of a young man in 17th century London who pursues a seemingly impossible goal: seducing the irresistible but proper young wife of a foolish old lawyer. With the help of trusted friends--and allies as unlikely as the local parson and the girl's own mother--a plot is hatched to trick the hapless lawyer into enthusiastically thrusting the young man into his young wife's bed.
Director Luke Beattie is in the process of staging all ten of Compton's known plays, none of which has a previous modern production history. Compton appears to have written most of the plays as a way to comment on the politics of the Cromwell years from a Royalist perspective.
Venue: Zoo Southside Studio, 117 Nicolson Street, Edinburgh, EH8 9ER (Venue 82)
Dates: 8-30 August 2010 (previews 6-7 August)
Time: 1.40 pm daily (90 minutes)
Ticket prices: £8 (£6 concession), available from the venue and Fringe box offices.
Company Media Contact: Luke Beattie (foul.papers@gmail.com; 07769289421)
To book review tickets, please contact press@zoovenues.co.uk
