"a sizzling and inventive production which converts the whole theatre into a holiday camp. . . . Mr McKellen directs with a jerky style of farcical vigour with more emphasis on camp than Erpingham. He emphasises pace and slapstick, a complete routine for the redcoats with the spotlights wrong, the microphone misplaced, the camping and singing routienes weary and fagged out. There is also the suggestion that the institution is Fascistic to its root. The beautiful production nevertheless sacrifices wit, and the Ortonesque style in which everyone speaks like imaginative income-tax forms. But there is sustaining exuberance and laughter and a fine cast. . . " — Nicholas de Jongh
Comments and Reviews
"a sizzling and inventive production which converts the whole theatre into a holiday camp. . . . Mr McKellen directs with a jerky style of farcical vigour with more emphasis on camp than Erpingham. He emphasises pace and slapstick, a complete routine for the redcoats with the spotlights wrong, the microphone misplaced, the camping and singing routienes weary and fagged out. There is also the suggestion that the institution is Fascistic to its root. The beautiful production nevertheless sacrifices wit, and the Ortonesque style in which everyone speaks like imaginative income-tax forms. But there is sustaining exuberance and laughter and a fine cast. . . " — Nicholas de Jongh