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woolfardis's review against another edition
3.0
habeas corpus, mass noun.
A writ requiring a person under arrest to be brought before a judge or into court, especially to secure the person's release unless lawful grounds are shown for their detention.
A ridiculous farce that isn't quite a farce, as it seems to be a farce about farces. We get every element that farces generally contain, which includes lewd behaviour, leering old men (with bad intent) and the falling of trousers.
I feel incredibly unable to write a sufficient synopsis for this play, other than it's set in a at-home doctors surgery, concerns a doctor and his wife, their son who is convinced he has three months to live (but they don't care), an ex-pat recently returned to England with her daughter, a busy-body who acts as a kind of narrator/one-woman-chorus and some other men and women, whereat everyone falls in love with the daughter and no-one wants to stay married. That about sums it up.
The humour is forced, but that's farces for you. It's not as strong as his other works that I've read, but the writing itself is still utterly sublime and wonderful. There are hints of satire that farces don't tend to incorporate and I would have given anything to have been able to see Alec Guinness in this on stage. Alas, it cannot be and I must satisfy myself with re-watching The Lavender Hill Mob instead.
A writ requiring a person under arrest to be brought before a judge or into court, especially to secure the person's release unless lawful grounds are shown for their detention.
A ridiculous farce that isn't quite a farce, as it seems to be a farce about farces. We get every element that farces generally contain, which includes lewd behaviour, leering old men (with bad intent) and the falling of trousers.
I feel incredibly unable to write a sufficient synopsis for this play, other than it's set in a at-home doctors surgery, concerns a doctor and his wife, their son who is convinced he has three months to live (but they don't care), an ex-pat recently returned to England with her daughter, a busy-body who acts as a kind of narrator/one-woman-chorus and some other men and women, whereat everyone falls in love with the daughter and no-one wants to stay married. That about sums it up.
The humour is forced, but that's farces for you. It's not as strong as his other works that I've read, but the writing itself is still utterly sublime and wonderful. There are hints of satire that farces don't tend to incorporate and I would have given anything to have been able to see Alec Guinness in this on stage. Alas, it cannot be and I must satisfy myself with re-watching The Lavender Hill Mob instead.
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