The Man of Mode

Nicholas Hytner's gift for staging period plays in modern dress seems to me quite exceptional.  After The Alchemist, here's another textbook example of how to peel away three centuries of dust and show a play so fresh that it might have been written yesterday.  George Etherege's Restoration comedy is moved seamlessly into the London of 2007, somewhere in that magic celebrity triangle between Hoxton, Tate Modern and St Martin's Lane which is inhabited by the stylish idle rich.  What I saw was a preview ahead of the opening night on February 6, and not surprisingly the production wasn't quite at full throttle.  While The Alchemist had old hands Alex Jennings and Simon Russell Beale who know how to dominate the huge Olivier stage, this play has a less experienced cast, some of whom are still working out how to project to the back row of such a big theatre.  One or two scenes lacked the necessary snap, crackle and pop, but I'm sure that will be sorted out. Hytner and his designer Vicki Mortimer build up layer after layer of tiny details with dance, costume and music to create a convincing whole;  Dorimant, the central character (Tom Hardy) is a black-clad serial shagger who flits between his regular squeeze Mrs Loveit (the owner of a tarty lingerie boutique), his new conquest Belinda and the demure Harriet, who is up from Yorkshire and trying to escape an arranged marriage.  Arranged marriages aren't very plausible in 2007, so Hytner solves the problem neatly by casting Asian actors.  I liked Tom Hardy's performance and that of Rory Kinnear as the pretentious Sir Fopling Flutter, who has returned from Paris with a troupe of Gallic hip-hop dancers.  Nancy Carroll (a favourite of mine) shines as Mrs Loveit, and so does Hayley Atwell as her rival Belinda.  The performances all have a core of truth.  I couldn't help thinking back to the Donmar's production of Don Juan in Soho, which inhabited much the same territory but which somehow failed to hit the right note.  Rory Kinnear and Tom Hardy don't quite have the same comic gifts as Rhys Ifans, but their performances were all the better for avoiding the temptation to go over the top. This is Restoration comedy which has thrown out its wigs and lacy costumes, but gained a lot of bite in the process.  Go and see it!