PLays

Hangover Square

Click here for information about the 2008 production

Adapted from Patrick Hamilton's novel for Cut and Thrust at the Lyric
Directed by Caroline Sharman and Matthew Francis

Starring Dudley Sutton, Celia Imrie and Anne Lambton (pictured left)

The obvious course for an adapter who wants to tackle the story in an original manner would be for him, or in this case her, to cleave the character of the schizophrenic hero so that two actors play him. Fidelis Morgan takes an altogether more intriguing course, cleaving the object of the hero's obsessive love, the vapid and amoral Netta. Jeremy Kingston (The Times)

This is a whydunnit at its best...In Morgan's stylish adaptation. City Limits

By an inspired insight, Morgan's adaptation splits Netta...into two characters. John Peter, The Sunday Times

Fidelis Morgan's skilful adaptation. Michael Coveney, The Observer

Hangover Square has been well served by its adapter Fidelis Morgan... It is not a realistic staging of its parent novel, but an expressionistic nightmare hung on its bones... The result of this bold and intelligent visualisation is to place the action firmly within the drink-sodden skull of Bone himself, and therefore our own, which is surely the author's original intention. Hugo Williams, Sunday Correspondent

A highly watchable adaptation. Steve Grant, Time Out

Fidelis Morgan...has done a bold thing in adapting Hangover Square... Written in an age when women who were perceived as destroyers of men deserved, at least in literature, to be murdered, Morgan has added a subtle new dimension to the story. She has freely adapted the novel, and created two Nettas. Avoiding the obvious trick of splitting Netta into evil "whore" and pure "innocent" fantasy, she uses both actors to portray her interchangeably. She does not shrink from showing up Netta for all her vanity and petty cruelty, yet saves the play from being an unquestioningly women-hating entertainment...Theatrical in the best sense, atmospheric, inventive and highly enjoyable. Clare Bayley, What's On

Fidelis Morgan's excellent adaptation.
Financial Times The version by Fidelis Morgan works very well. John Gross, Sunday Telegraph

Fidelis Morgan's spirited adaptation...suggests Hammer horror crossed with Greek tragedy. Annalena MacFee, Evening Standard

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