The Stage

The Dog in the Manger

Published Monday 26 April 2004 at 10:40 by Pat Ashworth

The RSC opens its Spanish Golden Age season of 17th century plays with this warm and very wry love story, a tumble of passions and emotions played out at high speed and with tongue firmly in cheek. Hardly anyone walks on to the stage. In a play alive with movement, they hurl themselves or they thrust each other on, maximising every bit of the Swan’s intimate space.

Set in Naples, this is the story of Diana, Countess of Belfor (Rebecca Johnson), who rejects her aristocratic suitors but falls for her secretary. Both must wrestle with the social issue of whether love can conquer birth, while fortunes rise and fall in a complex rollercoaster of a tale marked by frequent wails of “What’s going on?” from men with bouquets and in various stages of infatuation.

Johnson’s stiff, brocaded dress gives her the stern profile of a chess piece. She articulates beautifully the contemporary language of David Johnston’s translation and combines a sharp and caustic wit with vulnerability when her guard is down. Joseph Millson holds the audience in thrall as the perplexed Teodoro, John Ramm delights in extravagant body language and phraseology as the Marquis Ricardo and Claire Cox gives a graceful and natural performance as Marcela, the third point of the love triangle.

But it is Simon Trinder as the wily manservant Tristan who almost steals the show. His performance as the most common of common men puts the seal on a production in which Renaissance costumes, setting, early music and courtly dance give an authentic flavour that thrills.