Theatre Review: French Without Tears (Orange Tree Theatre)

 Joe Eyre, Florence Roberts and Ziggy Heath in French Without Tears
(Photo by: The Other Richard)

It’s both with great delight and a little bit of trepidation that one heads back to the Orange Tree to see French Without Tears, the OT’s co-production with English Touring Theatre, which, revived and (mostly) re-cast, is now back at the theatre before touring later this year. "Delight" because Paul Miller’s staging of Terence Rattigan’s fragrant 1936 comedy was one of 2015’s most purely pleasurable productions; "trepidation" because revisiting favourite productions can carry some risks. Will the show remain as delightful this time around? Or will its pleasures seem diminished in some way? 

Happily, the former proves to be the case here. Miller pitches this revival so perfectly, with so much charm and intelligence and lightness of touch, that resistance is pretty much futile, whether you’re seeing the show for the first or the second time.  

Rattigan’s play takes place on the west coast of France, where a group of young Englishmen have gathered for the summer to study French for the Diplomatic exam at Monsieur Maingot’s “cram school”. Cross-cultural and (especially) linguistic misunderstandings come to the fore, but, mostly,  the play (which was Rattigan’s first hit) is all about the romantic complications that the protagonists find themselves embroiled in, involving the arch-temptress Diana and Maingot’s daughter Jacqueline.

"Is there something more to this than a mere frolic?" wonders Dan Rebellato in his programme essay. Well, compared to the bruising and cathartic likes of The Deep Blue Sea  (currently at the National Theatre in Carrie Cracknell’s fine production), the answer has to be: "No." Yet, watching French Without Tears again, the beauty of its construction becomes even more apparent, as does the surprising amount of nuance that Rattigan brings to his characterisation of the protagonists which, while sharp and wry, never resorts to mean-spirited mockery, and gives the actors plenty of opportunity to go beyond caricature.

The two cast members reprising their roles – David Whitworth as Prof Maingot and Joe Eyre as Kit – both excel again, with Eyre, in particular, skilfully underplaying (even when dressed in one of the year’s most outrageous costumes) to make Kit’s love-sickness and jealousy both funnier and more relatable than I'd remembered it. The new cast members feel equally at home, too, with Tim Delap expertly incarnating a British naval "type" in Commander Rogers: uptight and awkward yet good-hearted and surprisingly perceptive. 

Alex Large makes the uncomplicated Brian (as keen on "tarts" as he is rubbish at French) entirely adorable. Beatriz Romilly invests Jacqueline with sweetness and shrewdness, articulating at least part of the play's perspective when she describes men as "blundering fools". Florence Roberts renders the cooing seductress Diana a more overt manipulator than Genevieve Gaunt did last year, but also clearly makes us understand the motivations of a character  who believes that her only gift is to make men fall in love with her. As the smug observer Alan, Ziggy Heath comes into his own when the character gets knocked off balance by a surprise declaration from Diana.

With a fine design by Simon Daw, and lovely music by David Shrubsole, Miller’s production is perfectly paced and pitched, reaching its comic apex in a wonderful post-revels scene between Rogers, Brian and Kit. Hilarious, loveable, and the ultimate cure for Brexit blues, it’s still hard to imagine seeing Rattigan’s play served better than this.

French Without Tears is booking at the Orange Tree until 30 July. It tours with English Touring Theatre from September to November. Details here. 

Theatre Review: French Without Tears (Orange Tree)

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. 

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 21^st November. Further information at the Orange Tree website.