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Picture
Southend Shakespeare Company present
HOME AND BEAUTY
By F. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM 
Dixon Studio, Palace Theatre
25th October - 29th October 2016 
Tue/Wed/Thu/Fri/Sat at 7.45 p.m. Sat 3.00 p.m.
Home and Beauty by W. Somerset Maugham is a fantastic romp
Southend Shakespeare are performing the Somerset Maugham comedy Home and Beauty at the Dixon Studio week commencing 25th October.  During rehearsals, the director Jacquee Storozynski-Toll took some time out to talk about the production.
​

Somerset Maugham seems to have fallen out of favour over the years unlike his contemporary Noel Coward.  What made you decide to do this play?
I have always loved this play ever since I saw a production with Felicity Kendall years ago.  That period has always interested me and I directed Accrington Pals for Lindisfarne a couple of years ago.  However, I thought it would be nice to do something that referenced WW1 but was funny.  
What is the play about?
WW1 is over and in essence, it is about two silly asses who happen to find themselves the husband of a dim-witted, selfish, ditzy woman.  In fact, the first husband is presumed killed in the war, but turns up having been a prisoner.   The woman, Victoria, meanwhile, has her heart set on a rich industrialist and wants to be rid of both husbands.  They are also fed up with her, and are keen for her to go.  The fun starts when both men pretend to do the gentlemanly thing and give her up, and a divorce involves setting up a fake allegation of adultery with a rather strange lady.  It is a play that is a satire about the human condition, but is light hearted, with nothing dealt with too deeply.  Nobody seems affected by the war and are just enjoying themselves.
Zoe Berry & Alice Ryan
Ben Smerdon, Elliot Bigden and Alice Ryan
Keith Chanter & Alice Ryan
Photo Credits: Malcolm Toll
Who are the actors appearing in this production?
The play has some new, young faces who have tackled the parts with great humour.   Elliot Bigden and Ben Smerdon play the silly ass husbands brilliantly with Victoria played by Alice Ryan.  She has been very busy lately, as she was also Miranda in Lindisfarne’s Relative Values recently.  She has gone from Noel Coward to Somerset Maugham, which is rather a coincidence as Maugham was referenced in Coward’s play.  We also have Zoe Berry from LODs as the eccentric maiden lady, together with the familiar faces of Kim Tobin, Sue Morley, Ross Norman-Clarke, Sandra Smith, Keith Chanter and Vanessa Osborne.  All are very amusing in different ways.
Why do you think Somerset Maugham has fallen out of favour?
I don’t understand why that is.  Like Noel Coward, he once had three plays on in the West End at the same time.   Most of his writing has been made into films, The Moon and Sixpence, Of Human Bondage, and even recently The Painted Veil.  His work is still around, but people don’t seem to recognise the titles.   As someone said recently, when you see Maugham’s work performed, although it is set in the past it still appears very modern,, unlike Noel Coward who is rather dated and stylised.  Maugham’s period characters still exist today, selfish, opinionated and spoilt.
The play is described as a farce rather than a comedy of manners.  Would you agree with that?
We have played up to that idea and have introduced some very funny farcical moments.  Although it is a period play set in 1919, we have tried to do something different with it to make it even funnier. I believe we have created something different from the conventional production.  In fact, we have laughed so much in rehearsal that the actors have sometimes forgotten to go on stage.  I hope the audience will enjoy it in the same way and leave the theatre smiling.
 

It is 1919, the war is over, and the jazz age is just beginning. Unfortunately, Victoria finds herself with two husbands. Believing her first husband Bill was killed in the war,  she has married his pompous army friend Frederick, but Bill turns up alive and well. What’s more, both husbands want to be rid of her, and she has set her sights on a rich industrialist as a third husband…!
Home and Beauty is a high energy, farcical comedy of morals, manners and marriage, with overtones of Wilde and Wodehouse.
Don’t miss this rare revival of a classic period comedy!


Tickets £14.00 inclusive of booking fee. Concessions £1.50 off. Groups of 10+ please call 01702 351135 to buy fee-free. Discounts for SSC members or go online www.southendtheatres.org.uk
 

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