The Magistrate February 1, 2013

A PLAY BY ARTHUR WING PINERO

STARRING: John Lithgow, Nancy Carroll
DIRECTOR: Timothy Sheader

A lady tells a white lie about her age and suddenly a whole family is embroiled in a night of misunderstandings, hair-raising discoveries and frantic escapes from the law.

John Lithgow plays the respectable Victorian husband, stepfather and magistrate, whose life gets turned on its head in this year’s festive treat from the National Theatre. He is joined by Nancy Carroll, returning to the NT following her Olivier award-winning performance in After the Dance. Expect laughs and revelations in The Magistrate, a comic masterpiece by one of Victorian London’s favourite playwrights Arthur Wing Pinero. The sets and costumes bring illustrations of the era brilliantly to life, as well as new songs, written specially for this production by Richard Stilgoe and Richard Sisson. The Magistrate is the perfect night out, whatever your age. Even if you’re not always entirely honest about it…

Academy Award nominee and Tony Award-winner John Lithgow (Shrek, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, 3rd Rock from the Sun) takes the title role in Arthur Wing Pinero’s uproarious Victorian farce, directed by Olivier Award-winner Timothy Sheader (Crazy for You and Into the Woods, Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, London).

In a similar vein to the National Theatre’s smash-hit classic comedies, She Stoops to Conquer and London Assurance, The Magistrate is sure to have audiences doubled up with laughter. When amiable magistrate Posket (John Lithgow) marries Agatha (Olivier Award-winner Nancy Carroll, After the Dance), little does he realize she’s dropped five years from her age – and her son’s. When her deception looks set to be revealed, it sparks a series of hilarious indignities and outrageous mishaps.