Jolly romp ’She Stoops to Conquer’ has stood the test of time

Often described as one of the few plays from the 18th century to have enduring appeal, Oliver Goldsmith’s Restoration comedy, She Stoops to Conquer opens at Cork’s Everyman on May 20.

Directed by Amanda Knott from British touring company, Creative Cow, the play was first performed in London in 1773. Knott describes it as an “anti-sentimental” comedy. “That’s what Goldsmith was about. He was satirising the sort of sentimental comedy that was very much the genre in his time. He is absolutely satirising the upper classes and their young men who think they’re God’s gift.”

The play centres on Charles Marlow, a well-bred young man from London. His problem is that when in the presence of women of his class, he becomes nervous and unable to communicate. When his wealthy father sets him up with his old friend’s eligible daughter, Kate Hardcastle, he is reduced to awkwardly stuttering on first acquaintance. But Kate is nonetheless charmed by this gibbering suitor. To put him at his ease, she ‘stoops to conquer’ by posing as a maid so that Marlow will fall for her. He sets out for the Hardcastles’ manor with a friend, George Hastings, who is the subject of the romantic subplot.