by Georges Feydeau
At the Kingston Rose
Peter Hall's production of Where There's a Will for
the English Touring Theatre, which opened at Kingston Rose last week, was the
second of Peter's productions I've seen in the past few months featuring full
period costume and sets. Nothing wrong with this, of course, but ironic given
the number of times I have sat in the shell of the theatre listening to Peter
declaring how the Kingston Rose would be dedicated to making drama to fill the
space, and had no need of sets and props.
But as Amanda pointed out, you need doors to do a farce! Or indeed, in this case, a balcony.
Feydeau's biography is almost a cliché for a comic writer. Early success at the age of 24, made a good marriage, sustained success made him the most successful writer of the French belle époque, he built up a major art collection, had a reputation for high living. However his marriage collapsed, he lost money on the stock exchange and he surrendered to depression for many years before dying syphilis-provoked madness at the age of 59.
Feydeau in many ways defined farce, both by making the door the
essential tool, the barrier and the entrance, the unexpected opening the
inexplicable closure, and also in the essentials of lust and lies. The plot here
is simple enough. Ribadier is Angele's second husband. The first having been a
serial philanderer, Angele is determined that number two will not go the same
way. Accordingly plagues her husband with her jealousy, and lays siege to his
privacy. Ribadier, however, has his own method which is allowing him to have the
wife of a local wine merchant as his mistress. Add to the mix Thommereux,
a previous suitor of Angele's who has just returned from the East (where he hid
to escape his lust for Angele) and the randy house servants and you have all the
necessary elements for a night of serious comedy.
Sara
Stewart is quite superb as Angele. One moment a jealous harridan, the next
swooning in her husband's arms, not that you believe she ever lets her guard
down. Charles Edwards plays the pompous and so-sophisticated ass Ribadier with
suitable aplomb, while Tony Gardner's portrayal of the camp, incompetent clown
Thommereux is highly entertaining. He too is a lustful lover, but fails entirely
whether he strives to do the decent thing, or to capture his intended prey. The
purely comic turns are all excellent, Nelly Harker and Jason Thorpe play the
below-stairs witnesses whose own lust gets muddled up with their masters with
great spirit but perhaps the wronged husband Savinet, brilliantly portrayed by
Teddy Kempner is the comic star. Quite how he can arrive at the house
threatening to kill the master and end up selling him brandy is just wonderful.
He is not at all vexed by his wife's affair, only whether or not people know of
it.
There are no great complex messages or morals in Where there's a Will. That marriage across the years of the belle époque was a matter of status and public perception, that most people will lie and deceive to gain their lustful way are, perhaps not great insights. Nonetheless, it is entertaining and satisfying faire; prigs are pricked, lies unravel, chickens hurtle home to do what chickens do. Splendidly played by all, wonderfully entertaining, but not a great deal to talk about afterwards!
Where There's a Will is at the Rose of Kingston until February 14th, then on tour with ETT.
www.rosetheatrekingston.org
Return
to reviews