French Without Tears (Orange Tree Theatre)
For a play that was such a huge success upon it's first appearance (the original production ran over 1000 performances, transferred to Broadway, and made a star of Rex Harrison), Terence Rattigan's witty 1936 French Without Tears is seldom revived these days. Watching Paul Miller's well paced, in-the-round staging for the Orange Tree, it is perhaps not hard to see why. Although perfectly agreeable to sit through, this depiction of the emotional and romantic awakenings of a group of young men in a 'cramming' school on the French coast, has not aged particularly well, and feels somewhat slight.
Rattigan pokes fun at the camaraderie and inexperience with women of this bunch of likeable, if vaguely misogynistic, posh boys and if the humour sometimes feels a bit laboured (their murdering of the French language is a constant source of merriment) there is no denying the elegance of the dialogue. But the constant witticisms make it hard to emotionally connect with any of the characters and so ultimately I didn't particularly care about any of them.
The acting is a little uneven, with William Belchambers and Joe Eyre as a pair of love rivals who end up drunkenly bonding failing to fully convince. As the object of their affections, the elusive Diana, Genevieve Gaunt looks stunning but could do with turning down the mannered archness.
More effective is Sarah Winter, touching as the lovelorn daughter of the house, carrying a torch for Eyre's highly strung Kit. Alex Bhat is impressive as witty, cynical Alan who becomes another victim of the charms of Diana. Best of all is Tom Hanson, a genuine delight as big-hearted, slightly clueless Brian, forever grappling with his appalling French as well as an offstage sweetheart who sounds like a heap of trouble. Hanson's comic delivery is a joy, and he gives the piece what heart it has. He's a real find.
Rattigan's work here is in a lighter vein than the pieces for which he is perhaps best known, such as The Deep Blue Sea and The Winslow Boy, but the common theme of a stiff upper lip and some well chosen epigrams covering up a tsunami of emotion is still very much to the fore. If ultimately I didn't find the play more than mildly amusing, it is still interesting to see an example of the "well made play" and it is a consummate pleasure to hear such well crafted, literate dialogue.
French Without Tears runs at the Orange Tree Theatre until 21 November.
