Opening night of “She Stoops to Conquer” written by Oliver Goldsmith and directed by James Gilbreath, was a success for the actors and actresses of Yuba College. Audience members filed into the theater to witness what would become a wonderful night, full of laughs. This classical love comedy was well received as characters brought the house down with laughter and tears over their performance of this well-crafted play. Before the lights come on and the curtains are pulled back, you can find Elizabeth Sutton who plays Kate Hardcastle, the main character, somewhere preparing for the show ahead, “I spend time listening to British accents and studying older English etiquette, including body language. Trying to convey the words properly, best allows the audience to be brought into their best level of enjoyment,” and enjoy the audience did.
Laurel Capps, who has been a student at Yuba College for two years and plays the part of Mrs. Hardcastle says “I love the exchange of energy between the audience and the actors.” Laurel definitely engaged in the audience, as she plays a greedy and vein old woman who spoils her son Tony.
As we go back in time to British country life, the story takes place over the course of one night and love is in the air, sort of. Mrs. Hardcastle wants Constance, her niece to wed Mr. Hardcastle’s son, Tony Lumpkin from another marriage in an effort to keep her wealth in the family. However, quite the predicament presents itself as Hastings, a charming, fine man, travels all the way from London in hopes of winning the affection of Constance for himself.
Meanwhile, Mr. Hardcastle wants his daughter Kate Hardcastle to marry Sir Charles Marlow, yet another fine selection as he is a handsome and charming man, himself, who appears a bit shy. Sir Charles traveled alongside Hastings from London and through their travels, fatigued and famished, the men were easily fooled into thinking that the home of the Hardcastle’s was a place of service as an inn, open for business. Because of the trickery, both men behave in a hilariously absurd manner. The mix-up also gives Kate the perfect opportunity to go deep in disguise as a barmaid to see if Sir Charles is really as shy he portrays, which makes room for more hilarious moments that caused the audience to burst into laughter, because the truth is, Marlow is not as shy as he portrays.
Of course, playing these characters is no easy task, it requires stretching, energy, comfortability and a lot of preparation. Reid Mertes who plays the character Marlow says. “My character, Marlow, acts differently, sharing his virtue, later he falls for the girl, a so-called victim of his own ‘virtue.’” Mertes did a fabulous job at executing his rendition of the character Marlow. He goes on to say that “we have personal input into our own characters.” Grant Meyers who plays Hastings says, “I’m comfortable with myself and my character regarding virtue of its time. Hastings is sneakily able to deceive those of a higher power to get what he wants while his heart is in the right place the whole time.”
As Mertes and Meyers mentioned, the theme of the play is virtue, the espousing of courage. Virtue which must be worn and must be conceived to be outwardly evident. Courage is self-imposed, a precept which must be gathered first to become the perception of all who see, then the perception of courage adds to virtue, a talent which can be manifested in many common and perfectly uncommon ways.
“The play was a blast and truly hilarious, they killed it,” says Jake Johnson, a Yuba College student and opening night attendee, “I think they did a really great job! I can’t imagine how difficult it must be to pull off such a show, but they did it flawlessly!”
“She Stoops to Conquer” plays, through March 24th, 2018 at the Yuba College theater.
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