Friday, September 25, 2009

House sale update - "He's much to blame"

We've been on the market a couple of weeks so far and we've had four viewings but no offers.

V1 liked the house but their own had only been on the market a couple of weeks and as they had received no offers they were in no position to offer themselves.

V2 thought the house was a little big for them.

V3 had not yet put their own house on the market so were just looking.

V4 asked probing questions and thought the house was 'surprising' but we have yet to hear further.

So all-in-all a slow start in a less than vibrant market.
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We were in Basingstoke yesterday afternoon to see the Holcroft play "He's much to blame". It reminded me of 'Blackadder', adjusted for less wit and more raucousness. The setting is around 1790 in an English hotel where all the characters gather.

The plot relates to a young but penniless member of the gentry taken in by an English family in Italy. There he and the daughter of the house, Maria, fall in love while the absent-in-England brother falls for a society heiress called Lady Jane. The penniless one suddenly inherits a baronetcy and returns to England (abandoning Maria) to join high society and himself woo the Lady Jane.

You can see how it's all going to turn out. The schtick is that the personalities on display are either vain foppish hedonists, irresolute bores or irksomely conscientious, honour-bound boobies. Some happy medium is the playwright's take-home message.

The acting was excellent: all loud projection and knowing asides to the audience. The play was unfortunately all obviousness and stereotypes.