A VERY FLAT COWARD

REVIEW PRIVATE LIVES

The Scotsman

10th October 2001
Kate Copstick

Albery Theatre, London

I have to confess that I am hopelessly, helplessly in thrall to Alan Rickman. From the Rev Obadiah Slope in the Barchester Chronicles to the Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood, he has shown himself to be an actor of intelligence, strength and a level of animal magnetism that would buckle the Forth Road Bridge. So when someone looking like Sir Robin Day appeared on Tim Hately's slanted white balcony, I wondered if the understudy was on.

With mounting despair I watched this wonderful play sink under the weight of two performances best described not so much as lead as leaden. Never, I would wager, has Noel Coward's masterly sweet'n'sour tale of love and loving-to-hate been so wholly stripped of its sparkle.

Lindsay Duncan's Amanda promised much. Sadly, it soon became clear that her entire performance was a homage to Jennifer Saunders's Edina in Absolutely Fabulous. In an odd - and presumably deliberate - piece of casting, both second spouses looked to have been barely viable when Elyot and Amanda walked down the aisle together.

Emma Fielding's Sibyl was nicely fluffy on the outside and steely on the inside. But on no level was it believable that Duncan's parodic Amanda would marry Adam Godley's eager, gangling Victor. But at least the dialogue sounded right in the mouths of the younger two.

In Elyot and Amanda, Coward created two wonderful creme brulee characters - shiny and brittle on the top but really very soft and gooey underneath. Rickman and Duncan gave us porridge. "Terribly flat, Norfolk," intoned Duncan . Not as flat as these performances.

Until 6 January, 2002, tel: 020-7369 1730

 

 

Copyright 2001 The Scotsman Publications Ltd