SHE STOOPS TO CONQUER

About the show

Christmas at Hardcastle Hall. David Horovitch (Miss Marple, Mr Turner) and Greta Scacchi (Heat and Dust, War and Peace) play Mr and Mrs Hardcastle, who have rather different ideas of the perfect Christmas. She craves cool jazz and cocktails; he wants a warm fire and the company of his bookish daughter Kate. Kate (Tanya Reynolds, Sex Education, A Mirror) can’t wait to meet her intended fiancé, Charles Marlow (Freddie Fox, The Great, House of the Dragon). But when Marlow is stricken with nerves, Kate must act fast. Meanwhile, confusion reigns. Kate’s friend Constance (Sabrina Bartlett, While the Sun Shines) is trying to steal her own diamonds to run off to France with her dim-witted beau, Hastings (Robert Mountford, The Habit of Art). Tony Lumpkin (Guy Hughes, The Little Matchgirl) has tricked the visitors into believing that Hardcastle Hall is a pub. And Diggory (Richard Derrington, The Tempest, The Archers) is rapidly proving to be the worst butler in the world. OT Artistic Director Tom Littler (The Circle), with Francesca Ellis, directs an all-star cast supported by a community ensemble in the 250th anniversary production of Oliver Goldsmith’s glorious comedy of misunderstanding. A riot of marital mishaps is relocated to a 1930s country house world of Jeeves and Wooster.