The Heiress

Published Thursday 6 March 2008 at 16:05 by Sheila Tracy

This production is pure class from start to finish.

The actors, the direction and the set leave nothing to be desired and if the customary Mill audience is put off, being more into comedies and thrillers, it will be missing out.

Set in New York’s high society in 1850, this is the age old story of a fortune hunter with his eye on a wealthy heiress who is painfully shy and lacking in both looks and charm. She is jealously guarded by her father, a top physician, unable to hide his disappointment that his daughter has inherited none of the beauty and grace of her mother, who died giving birth.

The 1949 film, collecting two Oscars and four nominations, starred Ralph Richardson and Olivia de Havilland as father and daughter, but here we have a real life father and daughter Gary and Emily Raymond, who both give superb performances.

He, as the autocratic father, dominates the stage and she, so pitifully shy and unsure of herself, that you are willing her to throw caution to the wind and take her would be suitor, played by Damien Lyne, at face value, which she does with predictable results.

Sally Hughes, the Mill’s artistic director, in one of her rare stage appearances, is perfect as the comforting aunt and confidante, willing her niece to elope with her admirer. The smaller parts are all beautifully played and as for Dinah England’s set and Jane Kidd’s costumes, they are best described as exquisite.