Cast

Synopsis

Pinero’s classic farce follows the misadventures of Mr. Posket, the mild magistrate of Meek Street, who gets disgracefully involved in the reprehensible junketings of his stepson. The hideous complications that ensue result in Mr. Posket unwittingly sentencing his wite to a prison term, but somehow all is happily resolved before the final curtain falls.

Directors Notes

“I have always acted on the principal that everything matters, “wrote Arthur Wing Pinero near the end of his life. This assertion sums up to perfection this beautifully crafted farce, which was first performed on the 21st of March 1885. A swift calculation shows us this is, give or take a day or so, The Magistrates’ one hundred and nineteenth anniversary, which is pretty old in anybodies reckoning. We can thank Pinero’s eye for the absurd in human nature, for its enduring appeal and the fact that it is still as funny and poignant in the present day as it was over a century ago. The Magistrate is considered as a corner stone in British Comedy and just, maybe, we can draw parallels with John Cleese’s inspiration for Fawlty Towers and see the first glimmers of the characters; Basil, Cibil, Manuel and the Major. This farce is an extravagant poke in the ribs of respectability as it follows the trials and tribulations of the poor old magistrate as he comes to terms with his changing domestic situation, following his marriage to a younger second wife with a rather advanced fourteen-year-old son. As the story develops a “family skeleton” is unearthed in the magistrate’s new household and his position, as an outstanding pillar of society, is going to receive a severe shaking. When the skeleton slinks from it’s cupboard the deceptions
unravel further and the magistrate, his family, relatives and calculating servants slip deeper and deeper into a mire of mayhem and madness. When the skeleton is finally laid to rest who will be left standing in the dock? The honest magistrate himself, maybe his precocious stepson or the lad’s blustering godfather? One thing is for sure, no one is entirely innocent, certainly not the magistrate’s scheming second spouse or her equally conniving sister. The verdict is quite simple, whoever is found guilty of whatever charge, you are sentenced to be bound over for the evening and to thoroughly enjoy yourselves