Hypocrite

Title: Hypocrite
Author: Bean, Richard
Price: $23.99

The Hypocrite
Richard Bean

April 1642. Sir John Hotham, Governor of Hull, Member for Beverley and owner of most of East Yorkshire is charged by Parliament to secure the arsenal at Hull and deny entry to King Charles I.

If only it were that simple. With a Royalist siege outside the city walls and the rebellion of the mob within, Civil War seems inevitable and losing his head more than probable. And thats to say nothing of his problems at home a lovesick daughter, a ghost obsessed with the chinaware, sexually amusing fumiture and a wife intent on escape.

We join Sir John on the worst day of his life, as he is caught between two choices: Honour or Advantage.

The Hypocrite was co-produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company, Hull Truck Theatre and Hull UK City of Culture 2017. It was first performed at Hull Truck Theatre on 24 February 2017. The production transferred to the Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon on 31 March 2017.

In 2011 Richard Bean became the first playwright to win the Evening Standard Award for Best Play for two plays, The Heretic and One Man, Two Guvnors. The New York production of One Man, Two Guvnors was awarded the 2012 Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding New Broadway Play. His recent credits include Kiss Me (Hampstead), The Nap (Sheffield Crucible), Great Britain (National Theatre), Made in Dagenham: The Musical (Adelphi Theatre) and Pitcairn (Chichester Minerva Theatre/Shakespeares Globe). Richards other work includes Under the Whaleback(Royal Court. George Devine Award 2002), The Heretic (Royal Court. Evening Standard Best New Play 2011), Honeymoon Suite (Pearson Play of the Year), Harvest (Critics Circle Best New Play), The House of Games (from David Mamets film), a new version of Molires The Hypochondriac, The Big Fellah (Out of Joint), England People Very Nice (National Theatre), The Mentalists (National Theatre), The English Game (Headlong), Up on Roof and Pub Quiz is Life (Hull Truck Theatre), In the Club (Hampstead), The God Botherers (Bush Theatre) and Mr England (Sheffield Crucible). His radio plays include Unsinkable, Robin Hoods Revenge, Of Rats and Men.
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A riotous new comedy from award-winning playwright Richard Bean, author of One Man, Two Guvnors.

April 1642. Sir John Hotham, Governor of Hull, is charged by Parliament to secure the arsenal at Hull and deny entry to King Charles I. If only it were that simple. With a Royalist siege outside the city walls and the rebellion of the mob within, Civil War seems inevitable and losing his head more than probable.
Reviews

'The Hypocrite serves as a scabrous, bawdy, witty, often flagrantly silly love-letter to Hull and its purported place in a crucial moment of national history... it hits the bulls-eye...Richard Bean returns to One Man, Two Guvnors form with a brilliantly entertaining new farce.' Telegraph

'For those who saw Bean's hit comedy One Man, Two Guvnors there's a similarly impish sense of fun here. It's full of daft wordplay with plenty of misunderstanding of the Hull accent and gags that play on local knowledge... It's a delight.' Hull Daily Mail

'the theatre programme kicks off with this raucously merry piece by Richard Bean about a celebrated episode in Hulls history... it was so warmly received by its audience you could almost feel the local pride bouncing off the theatre walls... the spectacle of a Hull-born dramatist getting so much out of a pivotal moment in the citys past produced a palpable delight. I enjoyed the occasion as much as the play itself.' Michael Billington, Guardian

Publisher: Oberon Books Ltd
Publication date: 28/02/2017
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9781786820839
Publishing status: Last copy archived