The chemistry still works in The Rivals

Polished: Penelope Keith brings the play to life
10 April 2012

In Mrs Malaprop, the Irish-born dramatist Richard Brinsley Sheridan created a scheming matriarch, part empress and part termagant, whose verbal confusions (such as saying "derangement of epitaphs" when she means "arrangement of epithets") have given us an enduringly useful term — namely malapropism.

In Peter Hall’s production of this 18th-century comedy of manners, which has transferred from Bath (the town where it is set), Penelope Keith brings to life the woman behind the word. And, in a casting coup sure to delight receptive seasonal audiences, she is reunited with her co-star from To The Manor Born, Peter Bowles.

This may sound like a questionable exercise in nostalgia, but it pays off. Keith is precise and regal, albeit with a crucial touch of vulnerability. Bowles makes her patrician acquaintance Sir Anthony Absolute a crusty figure. The character has often been played as if a volcano of neuroses, but Bowles’s Sir Anthony is judicious and restrained, though still capable of real menace and a single moment of unfettered rage. In all their scenes together, the pair’s natural rapport is palpable.

However, a lot of the responsibility for vivifying Sheridan’s writing lies elsewhere, and this orthodox account is rather too leisurely. The play’s contrivances develop neatly yet without much dash, and while the characterisation is sharp, key relationships fail to convince. This is a portrait of romantic caprice in which the romance never feels credible.

There’s appealing support, notably from Tony Gardner and Carlyss Peer, and Robyn Addison, making her professional stage debut, impresses as Lydia Languish, the young woman whose charms (languid, as her name suggests) inspire the play’s main episodes of amorous confusion.

Nonetheless, the polished elegance of this production, typified by Simon Higlett’s tastefully handsome set, means the comedy never really bites. Although it’s charming, it could be zestier. We need more puckish outrageousness; instead, this is heritage theatre — respectful and good-looking, but not exciting.

Until February 26. Information 0870 400 0626.

The Rivals
Theatre Royal, Haymarket
Suffolk Street, Haymarket, SW1Y 4HT

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