The Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, presents the very different world of London around 1700, when William Congreve's The Way of the World was first performed, and the ladies of "this lewd town" gathered together to sit "like an inquest on all the reputations murdered that week". Congreve, then 30, was a wickedly witty observer, and he saw no reason to revise his verdict when he wrote on the eve of hisretirement that "Men have always been the same/And all that Golden Age is but a dream". He would find much material for his pen today.
Congreve's play unfolds a tangled web of "marriage frauds" and ends with a warning against them, but only after showing how much amusement they can afford to onlookers. The director, Peter Gill, has assembled a strong cast who all gave better performances than the rather unresponsive audience deserved the night I saw it.
Jeremy Northam as Mirabell and Jonathan Phillips as Fainall both manage to make heartless philanderers seem delightfully witty and Eleanor David is very attractive as the amoral Lady Marwood, while Barbara Flynn is a sparklingly seductive Millamant. In a team where no one is less than good, Sheila Hancock stands out for her scintillating performance as Lady Wishfort. She is cruelly painted to look like a ravaged dowager ("flayed like an old peeled wall" in her own words) and is both an object of pity and a figure of fun as she pathetically seeks her last chance in the game of love.
This is an impressive production, as good as any in London (until 21 November).
All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt. (Charles M. Schulz)
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