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| Genevieve Gaunt in French Without Tears (Photo: Richard Davenport) |
With his sparkling, affectionate revival of French
Without Tears, Paul Miller delivers one of the year’s most purely
pleasurable productions. Terence Rattigan’s 1936 comedy, about the romantic
complications among a group of English youth at a French summer school, was the
playwright’s first big stage success. The play was also one of the primary
targets for the anti-Rattigan brigade of the 1950s.
French Without Tears, which has
some affinities with Rattigan’s 1943 While the Sun Shines (revived at Pentameters back in 2011 [review]), clearly belongs to
Rattigan’s early period, and, while there are some subterranean links to his later dramas, it would be a mistake to look for too much depth under
the play's shiny, epigram-strewn surface. Still,
if French Without Tears is essentially a trifle, it’s a well-constructed and fairly
substantial one that’s not without some insight in its gleeful exploration of
the machinations and the madnesses of love.
As usual, Miller very much takes the text on its own terms,
refusing to place it in knowing quotation marks, or to dress it up with contemporary nudges and winks. The result is the kind
of blissfully confident production in which every element feels in sync. And
the evening has one undeniable asset: the brightest (and hottest) young cast to
currently be seen on a UK stage.
There are several star-making turns: from Genevieve Gaunt as
Diana, the cooing, sulky, ever-manipulating seductress who’s recognised that
her only talent is to make men fall for her, and who intends to exploit that gift to the full; from Joe
Eyre and William Belchambers as her
current love rivals, Kit and Rogers (Eyre spends most of the second half in one
of the year’s most memorable costumes, while Belchambers allows his hilariously awkward, deadpan
Commander to lighten up by just the right degree); and from Tom Hanson, who’s
adorable as the marvellously uncomplicated,
French-mangling and tart-loving Brian.
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| Tom Hanson in French Without Tears (Photo: Richard Davenport) |
As Alan, vacillating between submitting to his father’s plans
for his career and pursuing his own writerly ambitions, Alex Bhat makes a sensational professional stage debut, moving from shrewd, smug observer to befuddled participant as Diana turns her
attentions his way. Veteran David Whitworth is priceless as the school’s Prof Maingot,
demanding that French be spoken at all times and
forever entering the scene just when the tensions between the men are about to get
physical. And Sarah Winter (who made a minor role in the Finborough’s 2012 revival of
Hindle Wakes truly memorable) is appealing as Maingot's daughter, who’s
nursing her own unspoken crush on Kit.
In short, the production has a wonderfully generous sense of
ensemble, and, throughout, one feels the entire cast’s sheer pleasure in the rhythms and wit of Rattigan’s dialogue, and the
funny lines they get to deliver. Our own current toff-bashing cultural moment
might make French Without Tears a hard sell to some. But
leave any such prejudices at the door and it’s impossible not to get swept up
in the beguiling effervescence of Miller’s perfectly charming revival.
Booking until 21st November. Further information
at the Orange Tree website.
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