Mrs. Caudle's Curtain Lectures

From: "will stackman" profwlll@yahoo.com

Subject: Quicktake - "Mrs. Caudle's Curtain Lectures" by Carl A. Rossi

adapted from Douglass William Jerrold, a columnist for the magazine, Punch

Date: Sun, Dec 3, 11:46 PM

Quicktake on MRS. CAUDLE'S CURTAIN LECTURES

     This adaptation by Carl Rossi of Victorian humorist Douglass William Jerrold's popular series, what Mrs. Caudle, a middleclass London housewife, said to her husband before they went to sleep at night, is an effective monodrama. He has edited some 20 of them, shortening them effectively, providing a comic arc for the incessant concerns of the title character. Joseph Zamperelli, Jr. directed a one-night only staged reading of the piece at Boston Playwrights' for the Delvena Theatre.

     Lynne Moulton was a redoubtable Mrs. Caudle, taking a taciturn Mr. Caudle, played by a silent Rick Park, to task for everything from loaning a friend his umbrella to the prospect of her mother moving in with them. Narration identifying each lecture was supplied by Hugh Metzler with stage directions given by Justine Curley. These two figures could well have more to say as the script develops. At present it provides a short pleasant glance at a bygone era, not all that different from more conservative aspects of our own. In the right setting, "Mrs. Caudle's Curtain Lectures" could play very well for the historical crowd.

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"Mrs. Caudle's Curtain Lectures" by Carl Rossi, Dec.3

Delvena Theatre Co. at Boston Playwrights Theatre

949 Comm. Ave. Allston
Boston Playwrights'