Don Juan in Soho

Synopsis

Patrick Marber s new version of Molière s 17th century classic is set in 21st century London. Molière s farcical, tragic, anarchic original of 1665 is relocated to modern day Soho: swank, new hotels and festering, old clip joints, crackheads in alleys and cokeheads in clubs. The destitute, the delirious, the broken and the brazen, the hustlers and hoorays, the media movers and merciless whores - all packed in to one seething square mile. Don Juan - the infamous amoral hedonist in a society entranced by sensation.

Our Review:

7 December 2006

When Michael Grandage directed this Molière version of the great amoral sexual swordsman legend (in a translation by Simon Nye) five years ago at the Sheffield Crucible, he put up a board in the foyer for audience members to add their thoughts.

One girl wrote that she didn’t mind going to Hell as long as Tom Hollander (who played the Don) was there. That sums up the wicked attraction of a seducer written by Molière as a complete bastard and here re-written by Patrick Marber as something even worse: a Soho lounge lizard and sociopath in a twilit world of media deals, hospital visits and lost purposes.

For the greatest talent exhibited by the impressively rangy and non-committal Rhys Ifans as the eponymous DJ is one for not caring a jot for his responsibility towards other people. Tall, blond and nasty, he beds, weds, and moves on just the same. He plays the role like a piano exercise: dedicated, focussed, and self-obsessed.

He’s oblivious to the disappr...

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Latest User Review

194.176.105.41) - 2 February 2007:

Superbly adapted and brilliantly scripted by Patrick Marber, this version of Moliere's classic is an adrenaline-filled rush but does not bear too much examination. It is inconceivable that this Jaggeresque Don Juan would suffer two years of pursuit of Elvira's virginity, even if she is as pretty as the lovely Laura Pyper. 90 minutes is also more than enough time spent in the company of such an unapologetic hedonist without a single redeeming feature. Despite those reservations this is an hilarious production with the usual superb direction from Michael Grandage and a top-notch ensemble, so it's a mystery why Rhys Evans looked so miserable during the curtain call....

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