WHERE THERE'S A WILL. To 11 April.
Tour.
WHERE THERE’S A WILL
by Georges Feydeau adapted by Nicki Frei.
English Touring Theatre Tour to 11 April 2009.
Runs 2hr 5min One interval.
Review: Timothy Ramsden 14 February at Rose Theatre Kingston-upon-Thames.
Feydeau, even when not in top form, means fun.
Giving this title to her English version of a Feydeau farce more directly translated as ‘The Ribadier Method’, Nicki Frei suggests both Shakespeare and inheritance. Smooth-mannered politician Ribadier resorts to Shakespearean quotations when forced to improvise a rhyming drama to explain away the amorous confessions overheard by his wife after The Ribadier Method of deceiving her breaks down. And a will becomes necessary when a cuckolded husband demands a duel.
The play dates from 1892; yet English Touring Theatre’s programme instances two different Feydeau farces from that year to illustrate the start of his 16-year success. It’s not surprising; among Feydeau’s work this is hardly an epoch- (not even a Belle Epoque) making piece.
Instead of the morals-lowering, action-speeding scene in a hotel room there are just the, often arbitrary, entries and exits of Ribadier, his old friend (and his wife’s would-be lover) Thommereux, plus Savinet, a wine-merchant whose wife is Ribadier’s mistress.
And while the household servants contrast simple desire with the respectable tensions of the householders, and provide some final scene cross-purpose dialogue, they remain frills to the main action.
Peter Hall’s as scrupulous with Feydeau as with Shakespeare, incorporating asides and innuendo within an unfussy clarity. Charles Edwards’ Ribadier is perpetually silky; Sara Stewart as his wronged wife moves between moments of trust and the suspicion recalled by the portrait of her philandering first husband.
Tony Gardner’s Thommereux combines quick calculation with physical exertion – including a fall into the room which converts to an assured stance, summing-up the contrast between morally stumbling reality and suavely respectable appearance. Teddy Kempner’s tradesman encapsulates the self-certain lower bourgeois, while Nelly Harker and Jason Thorpe provide fine below-stairs cameos when intruding into designer Christopher Woods’ creamy drawing-room, with its different shades of elegance under Lucy Carter’s lighting, contrasting dramatically necessary darkness and full lighting.
Yet the evening’s amusing rather than hilarious. Maybe the production still needs to find the precise farcical groove, or Frei’s witty script affects the pacing. Most likely, this just isn’t among the writer’s best. There’s still plenty to enjoy, even if this isn’t a classic Feydeau evening.
Ribadier: Charles Edwards.
Thommereux: Tony Gardner.
Sophie: Nelly Harker.
Savinet: Teddy Kempner.
Angele: Sara Stewart.
Gusman: Jason Thorpe.
Director: Peter Hall.
Designer: Christopher Woods.
Lighting: Lucy Carter.
Sound: Gregory Clarke, Marcus Cristensen.
Associate director: James Robert Carson.
2009-02-16 00:00:25