The City Wives' Confederacy
Greenwich Playhouse
9 December 2008 - 18 January 2009
Tues - Sat 7.30pm, Sun 4pm
(no perfs 24 - 29, 31 Dec; 1 - 4 Jan)
"I always know what I lack, and I'm never pleased with what I have"
Mixing an elegant comedy of manners with a feisty touch of farce, this is a world of want and desire where the men are all rogues annd the women are no better than they ought to be.
A biting critique of marriage, money, make-up and missing diamonds in the outrageous soap-opera world of restoration London.
- City brokers Gripe and Moneytrap lust after each other's wives.
- Their bored trophy wives lust after more money.
- A bogus gold-digging colonel has his eye on Gripe's daughter.
- The servants have their eye on the main chance.
- Some things just never change...
"the want of a thing is bad enough, but the possession of it is intolerable!"
This is a fantastic opportunity to see such a funny yet rarely performed restoration comedy in an intimate small-scale venue.
A London boy who lived in Greenwich's Maze Hill for much of his adult life, Vanbrugh led the kind of life today's biographers would fight over. After spells in India and the army, as well as five years in the Bastille (because he couldnt prove he wasn't Dutch), Vanbrugh took the theatrical world by storm and wrote some of the funniest, rudest and most influential plays of the time.
After losing money on the Haymarket Opera House, he turned to architecture in his thirties and his theatrical extravagance created some of Britain's most opulent Baroque houses, including Castle Howard and Blenheim Palace.
With everything he did Vanbrugh challenged the accepted views of his time, and just like his architecture his writing is confidently daring, bold and controversial. The City Wives' Confederacy is his last play and one that has more in common with the snappy city comedies of Middleton and Dekker than with those of his contemporaries.
- If you've seen enough pantos to last a lifetime...
- if you're a regular theatre-goer who loves classic drama...
- or if you prefer Footballers' Wives...
- ...this was the Christmas Show for you!
Where was it on?
Greenwich Playhouse, Greenwich Station Forecourt, 189 Greenwich High Road, London SE10 8JA. View map
When was it on?
9 December 2008 - 18 January 2009: Tues - Sat 7.30pm, Sun 4pm
(no perfs 24 - 29, 31 Dec; 1 - 4 Jan)
How much were tickets?
£12, £10 concessions.
Where did I get tickets?
Box Office: 020 8858 9256 / boxoffice@galleontheatre.co.uk / www.galleontheatre.co.uk
How did I get there?
By DLR: Greenwich;
By Bus: 180, 199, 851, 177, N1
By Rail: Greenwich (London Bridge - 8 mins, Charing Cross, Waterloo East)
I'd like more information...
Click on the links to download pdfs of the flyer (front and back) or press release.
For more information, please contact
