The Miser
Garrick Theatre
Reviewed 14th March 2017
โa joyous evening with jolly japes aplentyโ
At 350 years old, or thereabouts, Moliรจreโs โThe Miserโ arrives in the West End with a revival that surely the playwright himself would approve of.
โFreely adaptedโ by Sean Foley and Phil Porter, the original five act comedy is nicely condensed into a much more manageable two acts.
Griff Rhys Jones makes a welcome return to the stage in the title role (Harpagon), while Lee Mack makes his West End debut as Maรฎtre Jacques, The Miserโs cook, coachman, executioner and general dogsbody. Mathew Horne as Valรจre, Harpagonโs mistrusted employee, makes up the โnamesโ in the cast.
Remaining faithful(ish) to the original plot, and still set in the reign of Louis XIV โ ( โthe Arc de Triomphe isnโt built for another 150 yearsโ) โ thereโs a modern spin on the dialogue with many a topical reference thrown in; zero hours contracts, Trump and Sport Direct all get a mention.
A lot of the humour is a tad puerile, for instance two characters afflicted with speech impediments lead to predictable, yet amusing, situations; Katy Wix as Elise has trouble with her Rs, so itโs a sure fire guarantee sheโs going to have to say โrankโ at some stage. The spirit of Carry On lives on .. !
Katy Wix (most recently seen as Fergie on Channel 4โs The Windsors) was great fun to watch (even though at times she appeared to have morphed back into the Duchess!), as was the rather lispy Clรฉante (Ryan Gage) camping it up in some deeply garish outfits.
It was almost like watching one of those plays that Morecambe and Wise used to do, mixed up with a bit of the Two Ronnies โ the โmarry Marianneโ dialogue in the first act could quite easily have been a Barker and Corbett sketch.
The slapstick elements werenโt as sharp as they could have been and paled alongside the visual gags of the likes of The Play That Goes Wrong. Lee Mack was hugely entertaining, but at times it felt like you were watching one of his shows and his gags felt a little too stylised for the plot.
Altogether though, a joyous evening with jolly japes aplenty but bordering at times on panto โ Oh no it wasnโt โฆ Oh yes it was.
The Miser
is running until 3rd June at
The Garrick Theatre
CLICK HERE FOR TICKETS
Production Photography by Helen Maybanks