The Grove City College Theatre Program presents “She Stoops to Conquer” from March 16 to 18 and March 24 to 25 in the Little Theater of Pew Fine Arts Center on campus.
The performances are free and open to the public. All shows start at 7:30 p.m. Betsy (Boak ’77) Craig, professor of English and director of the College’s Theatre Program, directs.
“She Stoops to Conquer” by Oliver Goldsmith is an 18th century comedy of manners that has proved to be one of the most enduring plays in the history of English theater.
Wealthy countryman, Mr. Hardcastle has arranged for his daughter Kate to meet Charles Marlow, the son of his good friend, Sir Marlowe. The two gentlemen are hoping that it will be love at first sight and they will be married. Mr. Hardcastle’s second wife, Dorothy, has a similar scheme in mind. She tries valiantly to set up her son, Tony Lumpkin, with Constance Neville, Dorothy’s niece and best friend to Kate. Constance possesses a fortune in jewels that Mrs.Hardcastle desperately wants to keep in the family and only a marriage between Constance and Tony will enable this. Constance, however, has different ideas, and intends to elope with George Hastings, the best friend and traveling companion of young Charles Marlow.
Young Marlow and Hastings stop at a roadside alehouse for a rest and to get directions to the Hardcastle home. Here they meet Tony and his drinking friends who trick them into thinking that Mr. Hardcastle’s house, where they are heading, is actually an inn where they might spend the night before traveling on. When they arrive at the Hardcastle home, things go from bad to worse quickly. What ensues is a delightful and hilarious romp of play about identity, deceiving, and misinterpretation that is as fresh today as when it was originally written in 1773.
For tickets, visit www.gcc.edu/tickets.