WOMEN | |
LADY WISHFORT Enemy to Mirabell for having falsely pretended to love her |
AVIS BUNNAGE |
MRS FAINALL Daughter to Lady Wishfort, Wife to Fainall ex-Friend to Mirabell |
JULIE LEGRAND |
MILLAMANT Niece to Lady Wishfort and loves Mirabell |
PAOLA DIONISOTTI |
MRS MARWOOD Friend to Fainall and loves Mirabell |
ANN MITCHELL |
FOIBLE Woman to Lady Wishfort |
JOHANNA KIRBY |
MINCING | JILL SPURRIER |
MEN | |
FAINALL In love with Mrs Marwood |
CIARAN HINDS |
MIRABELL In love with Millamant |
RUPERT FRAZER |
WITWOUD Follower of Millament |
JOHN GOULD |
PETULANT Follower of Millament |
RICHARD REES |
SIR WIFULL WITWOUD Half brother to Witwoud, Nephew to Lady Wishfort |
DAVID FOXXE |
WAITWELL Servant to Mirabell |
ROBERT GWILYM |
With | DARRYL GODDARD GARY ROSS COLIN WELL |
The high watermark of restoration comedy takes a little time to arrive at Greenwich, where Giles Havergal has directed Congreve’s The Way of the World with a company which, almost without exception, have been associated with Glasgow Citizens. The delay might be due to Sue Blane's black-and-white setting, which is not only initially distracting but is covered in manuscript, even down to the chairs. Or to the three mysterious lawyers in black gowns over modern suits who are busying themselves on the stage before the first words of dialogue are spoken. Or to Ann Mitchell's soft-spoken, almost whispering portrayal of Mrs Marwood.
But all three gradually materialise as part of a conception by the director as a view of the world run according to black-and-white rules in which infidelity and other sins can be condoned provided that an eventual settlement prepared by the lawyers is reached. The three contemporary men in black have no part to play in the action, save as props and furniture shifters, but they are always there in the background ready to leap forward with a box of documents and a contract to be signed. The way of this world can be easily cut and dried.
It is a production in which style is all, and there is some very stylish acting, often deliberately languid, as in the case of Paola Dionisotti’s Millamant and Rupert Fraser’s Mirabell, but with a bite, notably in the first scene in which the pair set out their conditions for marriage. In contrast, Avis Bunnage as Lady Wishfort and to David Foxxe as Sir Wilfull Witwoud play in the full-blown a manner usually seen in productions of the play, the one ridiculous but touching in her middle-aged vanity, the other a lecherous sot bringing his country ways into high society. Ciaran Hinds is a drawling, low-key villain as Fainall, with Julie Legrand as his ill-used wife, John Gould and Richard Rees as Millamant’s chattering friends and Johanna Kirby, Jill Spurrier and Robert Gwilym as the trio of servants whose worldliness is no less than that of their masters.