DON QUIXOTE
INNKEEPER
Leaving already, Sir Knight? What about the bill?
DON QUIXOTE
The bill?
INNKEEPER
The bill. Straw and feed for your animals? Your dinner and beds?
DON QUIXOTE
Then this is an inn?
INNKEEPER
And a fairly good one at that.
DON QUIXOTE
Then you must excuse me, I thought it was a castle, and not a bad one at that.
INNKEEPER
Well it’s not, so pay your bill.
DON QUIXOTE
I’m afraid you’ll have to excuse me payment, I cannot contravene the rules of knight-erranty. You’ll know from your books that knights never pay for lodging or anything else. All hospitality offered them is their due in return for the insufferable toil they endure in seeking adventures by night and by day, in summer and in winter, on foot and on horseback, in hunger and thirst, cold and heat.
INNKEEPER
To hell with your talk of knights and chivalry, pay me what you owe me.
DON QUIXOTE
You are a arse-worm of an innkeeper.
First produced at West Yorkshire Playhouse Sept 26th 2007.
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Lyn Gardner
Saturday September 29, 2007
The Guardian
"This is a theatrical misadventure of such epic proportions that the only charitable explanation is that everyone at West Yorkshire Playhouse is suffering some collective delusion."
Lyn Gardner administers a lethal injection of incomprehension into her review of the production of Don Quixote.
And many British broadsheets were no better. Yet, however, much as these reviewers wished to do to the production Don Quixote what Quixote's critics had done to him, Don Quixote finished its run at West Yorkshire Playhouse before moving to the Madrid Festival where it was received with somewhat more understanding. WYP asked the audience to email their opinions on the show and received many responses, here's what some of you had to say:
“Thank you for a magnificent production of Don Quixote. It was absolutely brilliant - one more excellent production from WYP.”
“Neither loved it, nor hated it, but enjoyed it in a fascinated, open-mouthed type of way.”
“Don Quixote was the worst production I have ever seen at the Playhouse”
“The energetic and convincing cast was let down by the staging.”
“Don Quixote is my Desert Island book, and I had thought always it would be impossible to stage in any meaningful way. Now I know I was wrong.”
“We thought that Don Quixote was dreadful… We had no idea of what it was about”
“for every moment like the space-hoppers representing Clavileno - a joyous moment - there was the crass gazpacho/tortilla/ that'll do for starters joke. Which got a laugh (of relief) because people understood it!”
“The cast was excellent, particularly the two leading characters.”
“It is an extraordinary achievement by everyone involved to present the nightmare world of a mentally ill person on stage this powerfully.”
“The most self indulgent load of rubbish I have ever seen!”
“My friend and I were entertained and intrigued throughout. It does have some moments that don't work but overall it is well worth seeing.”
“Where to start to praise this production? It is gloriously off the wall, but its inventiveness and eclecticism surely reflect the true spirit of the original novel.”
“The staging was a disappointment - the scuzzy rehearsal room didn't 'work' for me.”
“We came last night in fear and trepidation after the Guardian review - and really enjoyed (most of) it. It was remarkably faithful to the book, in its plot, atmosphere, surrealism ... and its occasional longeurs!”
“ The only reason I did not cheer out loud at the end was that I could not - I was prevented by the lump in my throat.”
“a show not worthy of the West Yorkshire Playhouse”
“I just wanted to say how much I and the group i came with enjoyed the show. It was fast paced madness. I loved it.”
“It is superbly and excitingly staged - if you are new to it you will never be able to guess exactly what is going to happen next or what form the action will take. It makes you laugh out loud, but its final tragedy is deeply moving.”
“We appreciate that you need to try out new productions, but your patrons also come to be entertained”
“I liked the pythonesque aspects although there was less coherence than I'd normally expect in an episodic work. It was entirely comprehensible provided one suspended one's disbelief and entered into the spirit of the work.”
“What a delight, such colour, such quirkiness ,such glorious costumes. Shoes to die for too .”
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This adaptation is published by Oberon Books.
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