C Company » Press Coverage

The Country Wife Bridewell Theatre Oct 28th – Nov 14th

aileen — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 19:22:14 +0000

The Country Wife – The Stage

Published Tuesday 28 October 2008 at 18:50 by Gerald Berkowitz

Skilfully cut to a sprightly lunch hour, C Company’s modern dress version of Wycherley’s comedy of wit and seduction eliminates some subplots and secondary characters and in the process surprisingly shifts the comic centre. Wycherley’s core premise, of a rake who feigns impotence to attract women and disarm their husbands, is reduced to a bare mention, somewhat marginalising what was meant to be the central figure and turning the prime butt of Wycherley’s satire, a jealous husband trying to keep his wife from city ways, into a more sympathetic, if still comic character.

James Holmes skilfully underplays the husband, finding all the laughs without over-punching them. Nicci Holtby is particularly delightful in capturing the country wife’s not-so-innocent excitement at discovering the temptations of the town, and Joanna Nuttall blends comedy with some serious comment in a surviving subplot, as the one sensible character watching her self-absorbed fiance blindly let a friend steal her from him.

Remotegoat by Jill Lawrie

Bitesize take on Wycherley satire

Tucked away just off Fleet Street, this delightful playhouse offers lunch box theatre to a wide and varied audience, ranging from city slickers to the curious tourist.

‘The County Wife’, sandwiched into a lunchtime slot, was performed by the small but passionate C Company made up of some twenty five writers, actors and directors who offer high quality and challenging theatre to their audiences.

Directed by Aileen Gonsalves, much of the sexiness of the original tale is lost and the fact that Mr Horner is masquerading as a eunuch plays second fiddle to the jealous husband/brother Mr Pinchwife attempting to keep the women in his life away from temptation!

Despite being reduced to a bit player the charming Royce Cronin excels as the roguish lothario (Mr Horner) who steals the heart of the naïve country wife Mrs Pinchwife endearingly played by Nicci Holtby. Her husband Mr Pinchwife (James Holmes) won the audience over with his comic paranoia ~ culminating in a hilarious and enraged attempt at demolishing an orange! The lively flamboyant Sparkish was convincingly played by Matthew Burton.

These half dozen performers brought together a most entertaining bitesized package much enjoyed by some eighty or so enthusiastic and appreciative supporters.

Merchant of Venice Review in What’s On

aileen — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 10:57:02 +0000

The Bridewell’s Lunchbox Theatre plays are a streamlined idea – put on a 45 minute play at about 1pm weekdays and bring a sandwich so workers can still cram a little culture into their lunch hour. Once you get over the idea of munching your midday BLT in front of a tragedy, it’s such a good idea you wonder why no one thought if it before. The current Lunchbox is Merchant of Venice, with a twists of being both set in the ’80s and having Shylock played as a woman (Vanessa Spiro). The ’80s music and clothing, down to the white slipon shoes and the elegantly pushed-back sleeves, breathes new life into the play. Stephen Rahman-Hughes is good as Bassanio, with a nice line in physical comedy, and ably supported by Antonio (Alex Trippier). Fliss Walton gives good Portia and crossdresses effectively for comic effect. Spiro however has the most memorable role, playing the outsider due to her religion, occupation and of course gender, but keeping her character just this side of sympathetic, playing the professional who just wants to be taken seriously in the financial world she works in. Behind the big-hair music and lighthearted crossdressing are a few suspenseful scenes. The audience physically cringes when a shirtless Antonio is threatened by Shylock’s scalpel, as the vengeful Jew rushes at him intending to get her pound of flesh. The play is good enough to have you forgetting your lunchtime BLT. Nina Romain – Nina Romain

Company profile in Chiswick newspaper

mstibbe — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 11:13:09 +0000

Click on the picture below to see read the article at full size.

Ham & High Review of From Both Hips

mstibbe — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 15:31:51 +0000

Reviews Gate on From Both Hips

mstibbe — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 13:58:05 +0000

There’s a nice review of From Both Hips in Reviews Gate. Here’s a clip:

Newly-formed C Company have done London a favour by bringing this witty yet serious play to Islington’s Old Red Lion. Its shape and manner of revealing information underline the sense of problematic relationships, helping it say so much at such a brisk pace.

Time Out review of From Both Hips

mstibbe — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 21:04:52 +0000

Time Out just published a review of our play, From Both Hips. It concludes “this is smart, screwy, and very agreeable entertainment.”

Review of From Both Hips in Camden New Journal

mstibbe — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 08:04:15 +0000

Camden New Journal review of One Night Stand

aileen — Sun, 22 Apr 2007 17:31:21 +0000

ONE NIGHT STAND

By Natalie Li

Hen and Chickens
BOY meets girl, boy takes girl home, the rest is history. But in this play the consequences are far more disturbing, and leave quite a bitter resonance.
Lyn (Katie Russell) and Dave (Stephen Rahman-Hughes), are two 20-something professionals. They meet in the Paradise Club on a typical drunken night out.
What initially appears to be a night of casual sex catapults into a full-on rape investigation where the victims are not just Lyn and Dave, but their nearest friends and loved ones who are also drawn into the nightmare saga.
Is this just a crazy alcohol-fuelled evening of hazy memories, or is Dave guilty?
Despite the verdict, we will never discover the truth. What dominates the play is the breakdown of relationships.
From Dave’s girlfriend (Susan Bracken) to Lyn’s best friend (Fliss Walton), the extent of disintegration caused by one night of inebriation is unveiled. The plot takes its mini twists, and all are pulled together through the simple staging and nightclub/bar soundtrack.
The C Company, a young group of actors, directors and writers have successfully worked together on this tight piece of theatre to portray the reality of casual sex prevalent within our culture today.
Writer, Simon Warne, winner of the London Writers competition in 2000, depicts the repercussions of a drunken night on the tiles through a strong fresh cast of actors who identify the sexual tensions and anxieties surrounding the topical subject.
The exploration of this delicate subject is cast upon with neither judgement nor used as a morality tale. Instead it succinctly and unassumingly conveys the known facts, leaving us to create our own assumptions.
Until May 5
020 7704 2001

See original review online here.

C Company in The Independent

mstibbe — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 11:12:42 +0000

There’s a nice piece by our very own Susan Bracken in The Independent today, talking about how we used eBay to buy props for the show. Click on the picture for a larger, readable version.

FirstAct Feature on C Company

mstibbe — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 08:53:55 +0000

FirstAct interviewed our director/producer, Aileen Gonsalves, about One Night Stand and our working methods. The result is a very interesting article that covers what we’re doing nicely.

Click on the miniature scan to the left here to read the full text.You may need to install Adobe PDF Reader.