Fallen Angels
Noel Coward
Directed by Christopher Luscombe
Menier Chocolate Factory
Star rating: 4
A century-old comedy of manners – a lesser known Noel Coward play – could easily feel dated. But in the hands of Christopher Luscombe and his talented cast of six, it doesn’t. Instead it glitters energetically.
At the heart of the play are two middle-aged middle class couples. The chaps are off to play golf in Chichester (love those socks and plus fours) and the women are about to have lunch. Then the women learn that an old flame, with whom they each enjoyed an affair in Italy when they were single, is in England. He is French, all twirling moustaches and sexual glamour. The very thought of him sends them into orgasmic heaven. And so begins a very funny play which explores the sexual mores of 1925, female lust, double standards and marriage once the gloss has worn off. And it does it in classic drawing room style with plenty of cheerful farce elements.
Jane (Alexandra Gilbreath) and Julia (Janie Dee) get drunk together in the second of the three acts while waiting for their glamorous paramour to arrive or telephone – via a nice candlestick job, of course. It’s arguably slightly too drawn out but both actors become increasingly and subtly glassy-eyed as the evening wears on and they fall out with each other. They play off each other beautifully just as they do with Christopher Hollis as Bill and Richard Teverson as Fred in the final confrontation, both men horrified, angry and easily duped. Luscombe has ensured that every word, nuance and knowing look is timed to perfection and it’s hilarious – especially as, if you don’t know the play, you were probably assuming that we weren’t going to meet M. Duclos but …
In the midst of all this is a terrific performance from Sarah Twomey as the maid – an over-familiar know all, who plays Rachmaninoff to concert standard, knows about Peruvian hangover cures and trained with Ballet Ruse among many other accomplishments. At the end of Act 1, she gives us the funniest scene change I’ve ever seen, courtesy of Tchaikovsky and a lot of imagination.
Menier Chocolate Factory’s space (other facilities constrained at present owing to a dispute with the landlord) is configured as thrust with seating on two sides. So it feels pretty intimate and Simon Higlet’s 1925 set works perfectly – with one door apparently leading into a vestibule and another into the rest of the flat. It spaciously accommodates plenty of furniture without being fussy
Fallen Angels is a jolly good antidote to pantomime at this time of year. I haven’t laughed so much in the theatre for months.
