Peter Viney's Blog

The Miser
by Molière

Adapted by Sean Foley & Phil Porter
Directed by Sean Foley

Set and costume design by Alice Power

The Garrick Theatre, London
Friday 28th April 2017, 19.30

CAST

Griff Rhys-Jones – Harpagon
Lee Mack – Maitre Jacques
Matthew Horne – The Steward
with
Saikat Ahamed – La Flèche
Ryan Gage – Cleanté, The miser’s son
Simon Holmes – Dame Claude / Pedro
Andi Osho – Frosine
Michael Webber – Maitre Simon / Monsieur Anselme
Ellie White – Marianne, Cleanté’s girlfriend
Katy Wix – Elise, The miser’s daughter
Sabrina Carter – ensemble
Ian Weichardt – ensemble
Cameron Robertson – ensemble

Lee Mack (Maitre Jacques) and Griff Rhys-Jones (The Miser)

Sean Foley has a corner in West End comedy, and here he has two star comedians, Griff Rhys-Jones, plus Lee Mack, who is in his stage debut. Lee Mack’s character, Maitre Jacques, a general gopher and factotum, is newly-created for this adaptation, or rather amalgamates three minor roles into one. Add Matthew Horne from Gavin & Stacey, and Ryan Gage, Louis XIII in The Musketeers and Katy Wix from Lee Mack’s Not Going Out. 

Moliere’s plays lend themselves to adaptation, with the last few years seeing The Misanthrope, The Hypocrite and The Miser all getting free adaptations. My co-author Bernie Hartley would rant long on Moliere and French A -levels, infuriated that kids pass GCSE (the old O level) barely able to speak French, have a summer holiday, and start straight on Moliere at A level. Is it still true? I don’t know. No matter, there are so many good modern English versions nowadays that it is easier to be inspired.

The basis on the commedia del arte is direct. The Miser is the old man, the Pantaloon character, with conniving comic servant, useless fashionable son and fruity daughter. Moliere’s  comedies weren’t farce, but tend to be played in that direction now, especially here with bits of set falling on people, doors slammed into faces and the lid on the spinet keys crushing Maitre Jacques’ fingers is a running joke. It’s all played BIG, at the farcical end of farce with a host of asides and modern references, especially on the economy. I feel Moliere would have approved.

Lee Mack, Griff Rhys-Jones, Matthew Horne

The Miser is derived from Plautus (as is the Comedy of Errors – with a similar ending). The Plautus clown addressed the audience, taking them into his confidence, as epitomized by Frankie Howard as the slave Lurcio in Up Pompeii. Here Lee Mack has the role. He’s an absolute natural for it. Lee Mack has free rein to do what he does best, think on his feet. His best line of the evening was This is a joyous three star comedy … Michael Billington, The Guardian. It’s a reference to Britain’s best-respected critic ‘regular’ actors might have avoided. Lee Mack doesn’t care. He’s doing it all the time, and you can’t tell what’s scripted and what’s been brought in to the script permanently, and what’s just tonight. His  It’s not the  wrong line, it’s the translation from French corpsed Matthew Horne when a line was fumbled. Earlier, Horne got massive applause catching a cork that flew the width of the stage, and later Mack said He’s missed it the last fourteen times.

The Miser (Griff Rhys-Jones), Maitre Jacques (Lee Mack), Simon Holmes (Pedro)

Griff Rhys-Jones is also spending a lot of time working the audience throughout the evening. He has several monologue / audience spots, and as with Lee Msack, the ability of the confident, well-practised comedian shine through. When he asked the front row (we were upstairs) So you don’t believe in audience participation, I was surprised no one shouted out Oh, yes, we do! I would have, but I was too far away. So, you had two stepping out of role to work the crowd rather than the one.

Everyone else stays in character, though there is a lot of trying to keep a straight face. You can’t take your eyes off Ryan Gage as the foppish son, Cleanté. We loved him as King Louis XIII in The Musketeers and are gradually getting to see the cast on stage. It’s a flat out performance. Ryan Gage has made himself a specialist in overdressed aristocratic 17th century Frenchmen. He has a magic smile that was revealed in both roles, as well as an incredible ability in funny walks skips and hops.

Katy Wix is Elise, the daughter. The soft r that she puts on sometimes made her harder to understand, and while I’ve seen actresses putting on a soft “r” get a  laugh from changing “rank” to “wank”, I haven’t seen it done this well.

Valere the butler (Matthew Horne) and Elise (Katy Wix)

The plot? Cleanté loves Marianne, and wants to marry her. However his dad the Miser has decided to marry her himself, and marry off Cleanté to her elderly mother. Elise is in love with the butler Valerie, but Dad wants to marry her off to a rich elderly man, Monsieur Anselme. They have to get round him. The ending reveals an increasingly absurd sub-Comedy of Errors / Twelfth Night set of coincidences and relationships. As the revelations reeled off, we loved Lee Mack’s astonished “Fuck off!”

Father & Son: Griff Rhys-Jones as The Miser, Ryan Gage as Cleanté, his son

It was by no means full. The upper circle was empty. Lots of empty seats in the Royal Circle, which is bad for a Friday night, though it is late in the run. I’d say over-priced tickets, as when we booked there was a £14 each “service charge” on top of the already very high ticket price. Simply too expensive, as Griff Rhys-Jones constant jokes about the rich bastards at the front pointed out. A joke that the rich bastards may not have found funny.  Even the circle is five times what we paid for (say) The Worst Wedding Ever at Salisbury Playhouse, where the seats are far more comfortable, parking’s free after 6 pm, and the toilets are good. So too much here. The cast were excellent and much more famous here, but not necessarily that much “better” than very good provincial theatre.

We stay on the South Bank, and being exhausted tonight took a taxi (a rare event). Crawling along the north of the river at 10.20, we had a concrete barrier with two empty cycle lanes on our left, instead of the two car lanes there used to be. In 15 minutes in that traffic jam, we did not see one single cyclist. Boris Johnson, as mayor, was such an arrogant self–centered stupid bastard (our taxi driver’s words) spending millions of public money on cycle lanes which have screwed up the traffic. That’s social engineering, not running a city. And they are under-used as cyclists seem to prefer the pavement. For us, this time, we thought that we will be very selective about West End theatre with those old buildings with uncomfortable seats, disastrously inadequate loos and  swingeing prices in future. Let’s stick to the South Bank!

In spite of laughing long and loud at Lee Mack’s critic reference, I think the major critics are about right. Their consensus is three stars, because while it is tremendously entertaining, the jokes and action do become relentless.

***

WHAT THE CRITICS SAID

5
Mersa Aulda, The UpComing *****
4
Debbie Gilpin, Broadway World, ****
Jane Kemp, What’s  On Stage ****
3
Michael Billington, The Guardian ***
Dominic Cavendish, The Daily Telegraph ***
Dominic Maxwell, The Times ***
Quentin Letts, The Daily Mail ***
Matt Breen, Time Out ***
Fiona Mountford, Evening Standard, ***
2
Susannah Clapp, The Observer **
Mark Shenton, The Stage, **

LINKS ON THIS BLOG

MOLIERE
The Misanthrope ETT by Moliére, 1666, adopted by Roger McGough ETT
The Hypochondriac by Moliére, 1673, Bath Theatre Royal

PHIL PORTER
Vice Versa RSC 2017
A Mad World My Masters

SEAN FOLEY
The Dresser
The Painkiller (2016)
Jeeves and Wooster
The Ladykillers
A Mad World My Masters