Sweden, 1900: a not-so-chance encounter between glamorous actress Desirée Armfeldt and successful lawyer Fredrik Egerman threatens to rekindle an affair which ended 14 years before – despite the fact that, now, neither is exactly unattached. Read more …
Fredrik has recently married the beautiful Anne, many years his junior – but all is not well in the marital bed. Desirée is involved in an amour with the irredeemably pompous Count Carl-Magnus – and that’s not going quite to plan either. Worse still, Fredrik’s son from his first marriage, the gloomy Henrik, has fallen hopelessly in love with his new step-mother. And Carl-Magnus’s devoted wife, Charlotte, is ready to cast devotion aside, believing that her wandering husband deserves a taste of his own medicine.
In an effort to resolve these romantic complications, Desirée invites the main protagonists to a house party at the country estate of her mother, the formidable Madame Armfeldt. But as the wine flows, and the midsummer night casts its spell, just who will end up with whom?
John Durnin’s good-looking, slow-burning, but finally eloquent opening production.
It's not hard to see the appeal of Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler's musical waltz through the mating game that so captivated Broadway on its 1973 debut.
The production engages in spite of these flaws, thanks to some agile staging on Charles Cusick Smith’s elegant stage-within-a-stage, and a handful of exceptional performances.
Durnin has pulled out all the stops with this production with its 20 performers for a richly rewarding experience.
Pitlochry Festival Theatre, Pitlochry from Friday May 22, 2015, until Saturday October 17, 2015. Playing in repertory. Check website for performance dates.. More info: www.pitlochry.org.uk
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