One of the greatest comedies in the English language, Oliver Goldsmith's She Stoops To Conquer is as fresh, funny and joyous today as when it was first performed in 1773.

Wealthy countryman Mr Hardcastle is looking forward to introducing his daughter Kate to the son of his old friend Sir Charles Marlow with a view to marriage. But mayhem ensues and mistakes multiply when his mischievous stepson Tony Lumpkin tricks young Marlow and his friend Hastings into believing Mr Hardcastle is a common innkeeper. 

When Kate discovers Marlow is petrified of ladies of class but a charmer with common girls she pretends to be  a barmaid and stoops to conquer his heart.

Pick Me Up staged a specially commisioned performance of She Stoops To Conquer at the Tom Stoppard Theatre in Pocklington School in August 2015 – and restaged it in spring 2016 as a  light-hearted "filler" while the young cast of Les Misérables had a three-day break in the middle of their 10-show run.

There was no rest, though, for four of the cast – Sam Hird played Jean Valjean in Les Mis and stammering Marlowe in She Stoops To Conquer, Sam Baxter moved from the world's worst innkeeper Thenardier to the wonderful comic creation of Tony Lumpkin, Holly Surtees-Smith swapped from Cosette to servant Pimple, and Mabel Goulden from the Les Mis ensemble took on the role of Constance Neville. Les Mis director George Stagnell got in the on act too, appearing as servant Diggory alongside Les Mis designer Robert Readman as servant Roger.

February 21-23 2016