Class comedy

A comic gem from the 18th Century returns to Nottingham Playhouse on Friday, September 3.

She Stoops To Conquer by Oliver Goldsmith — which runs until Saturday, September 18 — is in the great tradition of English comedy, poking fun at people with class.

Country squire Mr Hardcastle (Mike Burnside) has lined up Charles Marlow (Edmund Kingsley) as a prospective husband for his daughter Kate (Ellie Beaven).

However, Marlow is so tongue-tied with women of his own social station that Kate is forced to dress as a barmaid to size him up properly.

Adding farcical complications of their own are Hardcastle’s flamboyant second wife (Joan Moon) and her mischief-making son Tony Lumpkin (Chris Nayak) young Constance (Rina Mahoney) and her secret suitor Hastings (Peter Basham) unmannered servant Diggory (Thomas Eyre) and Marlow’s indulgent father Sir Charles (Maxwell Hutcheon).

Nayak has performed at the Playhouse before in A Passage To India and Arthur And George, while Mahoney starred in Cinderella at the Playhouse in 1999.

Moon has starred in The Burial At Thebes, Blithe Spirit and The Families Of Lockerbie, while Basham and Hutcheon both performed in The Burial At Thebes.