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The
Country Wife has portrays a classic 'libertine' figure so it's quite
interesting to give it an Asian background. I would have thought
that that kind of culture is against a lot of their religious beliefs.
Does this help to give you your modern spin?
Lawrence:
Yes - because libertinism only exists within its opposite, so the
context that we've found is identical to that which we found in
the Wycherley play.
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| Lawrence
Till |
You
have to have a restriction within the social morality and the relationships
between those men and women, so that a person coming in can smash
it.
So
the restrictive nature of religious beliefs is exactly the same.
A central character comes in and says - you don't need to be like
this anymore - we can liberate these women in this way.
It's
a slightly anarchic romp really. It's a series of 20-something young
people falling in and out of love and trying to get one over on
their mates
It
sounds a fascinating take, because at the time there were the social
restrictions to freethinking - in the sexual sense, and this is
looking at some modern restrictions.
Lawrence:
Yes - it's finding an equivalent that makes sense to people now
because the whole nature of women being chaperoned or the whole
nature of arranged marriages where women had dowerys - we don't
have as much of that now as they did in that part of the 18th century.
So
it's very relevant to today. Does it have a contemporary setting
as well?
Lawrence:
It's not a completely contemporary setting, but it's a modern setting.
That's the best way to describe it!
And
of course - the panto is back!
Lawrence:
Yes - it's family friendly and exciting. Again it's a piece of work
that you hope will appeal to large numbers of people. We have been
closed for two years so people may have found alternatives but I
would urge them to come back because it's something that Watford
does very well.
If
you want a family friendly traditional pantomime in a beautiful
environment then Watford is the place to come!
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