She Stoops to Conquer, National (Olivier) - review

Credit to Jamie Lloyd for his precise direction - and to a buoyant cast that includes Katherine Kelly, fresh from five years in Coronation Street.

Kelly plays Kate Hardcastle, the pert daughter of a rural eccentric. He has fixed for her to meet eligible fop Marlow (Harry Hadden-Paton) with a view to marriage. But Marlow is tongue-tied when polite women are around. "Simplicity bewitches me," he says, and he certainly becomes much more animated when carousing with people of humble origin.

Kate twigs that in order to win Marlow's affections she must pose as a barmaid. The gambit works because Marlow is, in any case, thoroughly confused about his location. Blundering around the countryside, he has been sent to what he thinks is an inn. But this is a bit of mischief by local joker Tony Lumpkin, and in fact it's the house of Mr Hardcastle (a note-perfect Steve Pemberton).

Cue a succession of ludicrous misunderstandings. The result is a comedy of errors, which is at the same time a satire that engages provocatively with questions of class and the power of delayed gratification.

It's joyous stuff - broad yet polished. There's lovely ensemble work, neat movement overseen by Ann Yee, a handsome set by Mark Thompson, and jaunty musical interludes by Ben and Max Ringham that cover the scene changes appealingly. 

Kelly is wickedly assured, the sort of performer who can endow a simple smirk with resonance.

Hadden-Paton makes Marlow sumptuously funny while also suggesting his neurotic tendencies. John Heffernan reveals a gift for comedy as Marlow's friend Hastings, Cush Jumbo dazzles as the object of Hastings's affection, and David Fynn is deliciously robust as Tony Lumpkin.

Best of all is Sophie Thompson, who is show-stealingly good as Mrs Hardcastle, an occasionally ghastly yet all too human figure - farcically pretentious and easily duped. Her performance, finely tuned and generous, typifies this sublime account of a somewhat neglected 18th-century classic. 

For those who can't make it to the National Theatre, She Stoops to Conquer will be broadcast live to more than 200 UK cinemas and another 600 worldwide on March 29.

Until April 14 (020 7452 3000, nationaltheatre.org.uk).

She Stoops To Conquer
National Theatre: Olivier
South Bank, SE1 9PX