About
The Magistrate:
The Magistrate plays at National Theatre Olivier
South Bank, London, SE1 9PX
- Map
Seating chart & directions
John Lithgow takes the title role in this fast, furious, brilliantly plotted farce set in Victorian London. With his louche air and a developed taste for smoking, gambling, port and women, it's hard to believe Cis Farringdon is only fourteen. And that is because he isn't. Agatha his mother lopped five years from her true age and his when she married the amiable Posket.
The arrival of Cis' godfather sends Agatha incognito to the Hô-tel des Princes to warn him of her deception. But it is also where her son has cajoled his otherwise staid stepfather into joining him for a binge. High-spirited carousing leads to a police raid and a night of outrageous mishap as the trapped guests make desperate attempts to conceal themselves from the law and from each other. Indignities escalate at court the next day where Posket, the police magistrate, must preside.
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