"MOTHER CLAP'S MOLLY HOUSE" TRANSFERS TO ALDWYCH THEATRE

"MOTHER CLAP'S MOLLY HOUSE" TRANSFERS TO ALDWYCH THEATRE

Mark Ravenhill's Mother Clap's Molly House will transfer to the Aldwych Theatre on 6th Feb 02 for a limited run to 16th Mar 02 (Booking now open!).

It is directed by Nicholas Hytner, designed by Giles Cadle with lighting by Rick Fisher.

The play received complaints from a wrath of family values campaigners for featuring graphic depictions of gay sex when it premiered at the Lyttelton, Royal National Theatre in August this year "Putting it on at our National with taxpayers' money seems to me to be designed to affront traditional family values, "said Gerald Howarth, chairman of the Lords and Commons Family and Child Protection Group. Mark Ravenhill said, "There is sodomy, but I think National audiences can probably take sodomy on the chin, if that's where you take it."

The play received reasonable notices from the popular press.... MICHAEL BILLINGTON for THE GUARDIAN says, "An evening rich in rudery and ambivalence." DAVID BENEDICT for THE INDEPENDENT says, "The only shocking thing about the evening is how splendidly enjoyable it is."NICHOLAS DE JONGH for THE EVENING STANDARD says, "Mother Clap's Molly House is a daring, impassioned lament for decadent gay lives, but becomes too captivated by the gay high-jinks it presents and condemns." JOHN PETER for THE SUNDAY TIMES says, "Ravenhill's writing is tough, eloquent, sardonic.."

The show ended at the National last Saturday 24th Nov 01.

The play is set in London, 1726, and Mrs Tull's got problems. The whores are giving her a hard time, a man in a dress is looking for a job, her husband has a roving eye, and the apprentice boy keeps disappearing on midnight walks. Meanwhile in 2001, a group of wealthy gay men are preparing for a raunchy party.

This black comedy with songs, is a celebration of the diversity of human sexuality, an exploration of our need to form families, and a fascinating insight into a hidden chapter in London's history.