Habeas Corpus

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This was Alan Bennett’s first play, opening at The Lyric, London in 1973.The comedy is based in 1960’s Brighton and full of the lusts and longings of the Wicksteed family in the new 60’s permissive society. Bennett’s use of the title Habeas Corpus with its Latin translation being ‘You shall have the body’ sets the naughty expectations high, with seaside humour and double entendre being a main focus, not the usual Bennett fayre but this didn’t deter the audience from enjoying the Alan Bennett experience at the Tacchi Morris Theatre. @2k’s interpretation began with the entrance of the ‘chorus’ in the form of Mrs Swabb, the cleaner come house keeper of the Wicksteed family with her wheelie trolley . With a naughty glint in her eye and her expressive face Mrs Swabb set the scene perfectly and continued to fill us in with her tasty titbits of gossip throughout the show. The frustrated aging Dr. Arthur Wicksteed was nicely drawn along with his wife Muriel, who again was comically portrayed with just a tiny bit promiscuity , sometimes there is too much flesh exposed in this piece but Muriel’s longings as she sashed around in her black lacy slip gave us just enough information about what was going on in her head. The young people, Felicity and Dennis again gave us just enough information of the goings on in private without the exposure of too much flesh. You could say this was quite a sedate representation but the audiences were focusing more on the use of language than ogling the cast in their scanties, which left them to their imaginings, meaning there was plenty of laughter. On this early Autumn evening the audience were totally absorbed in the visual simplicity and emotional rollercoaster of a ride that took place before them, it was a fun filled evening of mirth and naughtyness.
 

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