Peter Hall’s version of Georges Feydeau’s Where There’s a Will is on at the Oxford Playhouse until Saturday 11 April and I cannot think of a better way to spend an evening this Easter break. A distinctly French farce set in turn of the century Paris, it takes a satirical look at the marriages and (more pertinently) infidelities of bourgeois society in a fashion not dissimilar to the work of Oscar Wilde. The script is full of witty, pithy aphorisms which seem to have lost nothing in translation; Christopher Wood’s costumes and set can best be described as sumptuous, designed in an art nouveau style which I instantly fell in love with; and the performances were faultless.
All the action takes place in one room, and the cast of six had plenty of verbal sparring to keep them on their toes, so it’s to their credit that they retained our interest throughout, navigating the play’s wordiness with a real joie de vivre. I particularly enjoyed the asides to the audience, which gave proceedings a real sense of proper, old fashioned theatre. Special mention must be made of Tony Gardner’s thwarted lover Thommereux, who added an especially comic touch skilfully avoiding mere pastiche.
When this play was first performed I can imagine its licentious themes were far more shocking to a less liberal society (in principle at any rate, if the play is anything to go by) than to today’s theatregoers. However in spite of this the play still serves to entertain, its sparkling wit making much fun of people’s foibles and the madness which desire provokes – surely something people from any generation can relate to, however cynical the play’s outlook and finale may seem.
The last play I saw directed by Peter Hall was the markedly different Whose Life is it Anyway, starring Kim Catrall as a women paralysed from the neck down and arguing for the right to end her life. This movie, with its focus on all things lusty and vernal, couldn’t be more different, which just goes to show that Sir Peter’s considerable talents are still a force to be reckoned with.
All the action takes place in one room, and the cast of six had plenty of verbal sparring to keep them on their toes, so it’s to their credit that they retained our interest throughout, navigating the play’s wordiness with a real joie de vivre. I particularly enjoyed the asides to the audience, which gave proceedings a real sense of proper, old fashioned theatre. Special mention must be made of Tony Gardner’s thwarted lover Thommereux, who added an especially comic touch skilfully avoiding mere pastiche.
When this play was first performed I can imagine its licentious themes were far more shocking to a less liberal society (in principle at any rate, if the play is anything to go by) than to today’s theatregoers. However in spite of this the play still serves to entertain, its sparkling wit making much fun of people’s foibles and the madness which desire provokes – surely something people from any generation can relate to, however cynical the play’s outlook and finale may seem.
The last play I saw directed by Peter Hall was the markedly different Whose Life is it Anyway, starring Kim Catrall as a women paralysed from the neck down and arguing for the right to end her life. This movie, with its focus on all things lusty and vernal, couldn’t be more different, which just goes to show that Sir Peter’s considerable talents are still a force to be reckoned with.