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Martin Crimp’s reimagining of The Misanthrope relocates Molière’s classic into a contemporary world of artists and intellectuals, centring on Alice, a feminist novelist who rails against what she sees as the hypocrisy of modern society. From the outset, Crimp signals his ambition to bridge two worlds: the formal, structured society of Molière’s Louis XIV court and the looser, more performative social codes of the present day. Yet this balancing act proves uneasy. The production never fully settles into either register. It is neither convincingly contemporary nor persuasively classical, instead hovering in an uncertain space where stylisation overwhelms dramatic credibility. The play opens with a lengthy exchange between Alice and her playwright friend John, in which her ideas are set out in carefully constructed speeches that feel less like dialogue than set pieces. Even among a cast of writers, actors and musicians, the conversations often do not seem natural, and the interactions never become genuinely engaging. The relationship at the centre of the drama, between Sandra Oh’s Alice and Tom Mison’s Stefan, also struggles to generate genuine tension or chemistry. While Oh is convincing as the crusader against conformity, the love affair never has that Spencer-Hepburn spark it needs. What should be viscerally compelling instead feels theoretical. While voices are raised, the emotional stakes remain curiously muted. The plot seems referenced rather than fleshed out, and the attempt to reframe Molière’s critique of courtly hypocrisy within a modern landscape of cultural performance and professional branding, seems strained. Perhaps, the idea of comparing the rigid etiquette of Louis XIV’s court to the more fluid, but equally performative, choreography of contemporary society falters because of our lack of investment in these characters. Alice’s rejection of hypocrisy too often seems like a confusion between genuine social codes, politeness and basic human kindness, leaving her moral position feeling less radical than simply underexamined. There is also a persistent strain of self-conscious theatricality throughout the piece, with occasional meta references to being in a play and direct addresses to the audience. While these might be intended to sharpen the play’s intellectual edge, they instead reinforce a sense of distance, preventing any sustained immersion in the drama. Drawing attention to the fact that we are watching a constructed performance does not reinforce the thematic concern about codes; it simply draws us out of the drama and makes the audience straddle another two worlds. In the end, what remains is a production that is visually striking and handsomely staged, with impressive costumes and evocative design, yet dramatically and thematically unsatisfying despite a strong performance by Oh. For all its ambitious intentions, the piece struggles to generate life on stage. The result is a world of ideas carefully dressed in theatrical finery, but lacking the emotional pulse needed to make those ideas resonate.
Rated: ★★★
Reviewed by J.C.
Photo by Marc Brenner
When, Where, Getting there:
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