The Misanthrope

A new production of a great play, THE MISANTHROPE of Moliere. This one from the NY Theatre Workshop on East 4th Street, a company celebrating its 25 years of innovation.

I have seen some duds here and had read about this production. I didn't enjoy it but found it diverting. Using video, amplification and all the paraphernalia of modern life, cell phones & computers we nevertheless never lost sight of Alceste's problem with other people. Our age is portrayed as vacuous and hollow as the court of Louis XIV. Unfortunately the actors, all accomplished were asked to asked to do some rather silly things. Alceste covers himself in tomato ketchup, chocolate and oil. He brings three bags of garbage on to the stage found (by chance!) outside the theatre; we are treated to the actors backstage, their lives seemingly overlapping the characters. The filming was disconcertingly out of sync. with the speech and the mikes made some of the actors shrill, very loud and sometimes incomprehensible. I have seen this play before in memorable productions, at the Comedie Francaise and in the 70s set in the de Gaulle sixties starring Diano Rigg and Alec McCowen, a brilliant well spoken production. No garbage there but the brittleness of the court conveyed in dazzling Parisian terms.