The False Servant

Synopsis

Lust and avarice trample on the finer feelings of love in this subversive take on sexual manners and the cruelties of courtship. The man thinks that marriage is simply a matter of money and property. But just how far should the woman go to prove him wrong?

Our Review:

2 June 2004

Before a word is spoken of Martin Crimp’s witty new translation of Marivaux’s 1724 French comedy of sexual bad manners, Paul Brown’s gilded set – smoky mirror, glass walls, doors and floor of the Countess’ country chateau - sets the scene beautifully. Here is a rich world populated by shallow characters who, while constantly spying on one another, remain transfixed by their own reflections and selfish material zeal.

The audience can also catch the odd reflection of themselves in Brown’s polished set and, if that weren’t enough to draw them in, director Jonathan Kent’s clever production - in which Adrian Scarborough’s wily Trivelin first enters the auditorium as a theatregoer (“I thought I was seeing The History Boys”) and retakes his front-row seat at the denouement – makes it clear that we’re all involved in this particular form of courtship theatre.

Nancy Carroll oozes androgynous sex appeal as an heiress who masquerades as the male Chevalier in order to ...

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Latest User Review

USER: Whatsonstage.com (82.35.136.96) - 13 September 2004:

This is one of the few performances I've seen recently that I'd pay to see again. How anybody can claim that the play is not terribly good when they've never read it is beyond me. An excellent adaptation of an excellent play by an excellent playwright excellently executed. ...

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