Barefoot in the Park
Though there might not be gritty issues or moral awakening inducing moments, but it’s the perfect play for Exam term.
The Barefoot in the Park poster greeting audience-members in the ADC gives no more away about the play than its rather enigmatic title. But Neil Simon’s play, a light-hearted and amusing comedy about newly-weds struggling to settle into their NYC apartment (which is definitely not worth the $125 rent they are paying) is a pleasant surprise.
Barefoot in the Park, which opened on Broadway in 1963, was later made into a successful film. For those familiar with it this is a great chance to see the comedy in a different setting, or to spend a nostalgic evening in 1960s New York. For me, completely new to the production (and having sadly missed the Beatles by a few decades), Barefoot in the Park provided an evening of relaxed entertainment.
The relationship between Corie Bratter, impulsive, reckless wife-of-six-days, and her mother, Mrs. Ethel Banks, who has not slept without a board for years, provided most amusement, in the recognisable format of mother-daughter disputes. The extremes of character were well-portrayed for the most part, though at times Corie’s lurched a little too far towards melodrama. However, in the spirit of the production, this had a certain charm in itself.
Paul Bratter, Corie’s neat, ‘stuffed-shirt’ husband, pulled off a particularly impressive Yankee accent, even managing to affect it with a cold following an unfortunate night sleeping below a hole in a skylight in February.
The couple’s eccentric neighbour, Victor Velasco, is of a similar spirit to Corie. Between his inappropriate jokes, bizarre habits and odd living arrangements, he provides a great deal of the comedy. He embodies the spirit of the play with its philosophy that sometimes one must forget it is February, that the grass might be damp – and ones feet will surely get cold – and simply walk barefoot in the park.
And so I encourage anyone feeling submerged in revision, or down after hours spent staring out of the same window, to give this play a go if they fancy trying something unexpected. Do not go looking for an epiphanic ending, a host of witty aphorisms, a tough, gritty issue, or any form of moral awakening. But if you fancy taking a detour and abandoning the books for an hour or two for some unexpected amusement, go see Barefoot in the Park.
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