The Nose by Johnny O’Hanlon
The Nose is the world première of a story inspired by the famous Russian novelist Nikolai Gogol and written in the 1830s.
Strange things happen, perhaps rarely, but do happen. One day some thing strange indeed did happen to a man called Simonov who was due to be married that very day. He lost his nose…
Titchfield Festival Theatre member and the play’s director Johnny O’Hanlon took Gogol's idea of a man with a missing nose - and decided to write a different narrative. This is a hilarious story, capturing the surreal quality of Gogol’s writing whilst providing entertainment for a modern day audience to appreciate.
The play is rich in bizar re characters and storylines: A marriage bargain, a money-grasping family, a ruthless and pretentious poet, a desirous actress, a beleaguered husband, a frail servant, a few macaroons, a misbehaving sausage and, oh yes, a missing nose.
Johnny O’Hanlon explained the motivation behind the new version of the classic production: “I wrote The Nose because I was attracted by the idea of a ridiculous egotistical man, Simonov, running around his bedroom looking for his nose on the day of an important marriage deal with an equally scheming family called Uppervitch. Simonov cannot wait to marry their beautiful daughter, but Mr & Mrs Uppervitch are hatching a plan to deceive Simonov. The
scene is set for the fun to begin…”
Gogol wrote his absurd but brilliant short story as criticism of the way small-minded bureaucrats jockeyed for position within Russian government circles. Titchfield Festival Theatre’s production however is not political, but instead centres on how two families – the Simonovs and Uppervitchs – are prepared to deceive each other to gain popularity and status.
Artistic Director of Titchfield Festival Theatre, Kevin Fraser says, “We decided to focus on classic productions this month – Gogol is one of the world’s greatest writers who we wanted to feature in the Acorn Theatre here. Johnny O’Hanlon has specially written this play for us and it is great fun. Imagine Monty Python and The Goons meeting Benny Hill….that is the essence of what we promise will be a fun night of laughter and comedy.”
The opening night performance is on Monday 26h March starting at 7.30pm with further performances on 27th, 28th, 29th, 30th and 31st March.
For more information, please go to http://titchfieldfestivaltheatre.com/or contact the Box Office on 01329 556156.