Marivaux’s plays, usually condemned because of their empty artificiality, take on a new light when somebody like Martin Crimp translates them. This version of The False Servant is daring and sometimes outrageous from the start, when a man who appears to be a noisy member of the audience hails a friend on the other side of the auditorium and is revealed, presumably, to be the servant of the title. Offered the chance by a friend to work for the Countess - who is romantically besieged by the loathsome Lelio - this crafty rascal spies an opportunity to feather his own nest.
Cleverly directed by Jonathan Kent in a tarnished silver-mirrored chateau designed by Paul Brown, the play is a delight from start to finish, though not without its dark and disturbing moments, created mainly by the Chevalier, a young woman in male clothing. She is the weapon of marital destruction in Lelio’s plan to ditch the rich Countess, with whom he has a liaison, in favour of an even wealthier young woman in Paris.
The unfolding of the plot is tortuous and frankly unbelievable by modern standards and the play’s title widens to refer to the Chevalier, ostensibly a member of the Countess’ household, or even love itself, which both author and translator cynically consider to be a con from start to finish.
Be that as it may, this is a shimmeringly polished production, with some fine performances by Nancy Carroll as the Chevalier, Anthony Calf as Lelio and Adrian Scarborough as the wily Trivelin. Charlotte Rampling, whom age has seemingly not withered to any degree whatsoever, is, however, not always audible as The Countess - the result, one imagines, of the result of years in film and TV studios and no appreciable experience in theatre.
Production information can change over the run of the show.
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