The Misanthrope

Synopsis

Angry playwright Alceste detests the superficial world of show business and has an uncomfortable habit of speaking his mind even when it is against his own best interests. The trouble is he has fallen passionately in love with a twenty year old Hollywood starlet who, while claiming to reciprocate his feelings, continues to flirt outrageously with a whole series of influential media personalities in order to further her career. Will love triumph over cynicism and the individual over the pack or are they set on a cruel collision course? Martin Crimp whisks Moliere's 17th-century masterpiece from the court of Louis XIV straight into the heart of the contemporary London media scene to explore the conflict between integrity and success. Losing none of the biting flavour of the original, Crimp's version is fast, witty and complete with rhyming couplets.

Our Review:

Michael Coveney - 18 December 2009

Could Keira cut it? She could, and she can, though one comes away from Thea Sharrock’s revival of Martin Crimp’s 1996 Moliere update admiring the girl’s wittiness in playing a stick thin Hollywood starlet trapped in a career cul-de-sac more than dying to see her again in Congreve or David Hare. The readiness, if not the reediness, is all.

Keira Knightley is just 24, although it seems she’s been around for decades. And Crimp’s Jennifer in the hotel hothouse that is the equivalent of Celimene’s saloon is a perfect role for her. She even makes the bitchiness sound natural, though you do fear for her physical well-being: if she turned round in a shower, she probably wouldn’t get wet.

She is driving Damian Lewis’ splendidly angry playwright Alceste to distraction, though it’s oddly hard to detect any sexual obsession in his infatuation. Lewis lays about him with a bracing bile and candour only to find himself caught...

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Latest User Review

David Baxter - 3 February 2010:

My aversion to modern rhyming couplets is massively reinforced by Martin Crimp's showy adaptation of Moliere. The sense of the dialogue is lost as you wait for the next ostentatious and forced rhyme. It also leads to some of the cast speaking with an unnatural rhythm with emphases in the wrong places. Dominic Rowan and the peerless Tim McMullan fare best and Damian Lewis is the most natural although a bit gabbled at times. In contrast Tara Fitzgerald shouts and surprisingly over-acts, but the majority of the minor characters are irrelevant stereotypes. Keira Knightley deserves credit for choosing this for her stage debut: the character may not be much of a stretch but her dialogue is challenging and in the second half she produces the one credible display of emotion, although she is on the receiving end of the least convincing stage slap I have ever seen from Lewis. Thea Sharrock directs at a furious pace and The Misanthrope is entertaining for a couple of hours but this version is as shallow as Knightley's Jennifer....

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