By Molière, in a new version by Hilary Bell. Directed by Jo Turner. Darlinghurst Theatre Co. June 9 – July 1, 2018
Molière’s play is set in the bedchamber of Argan, a rich, neurotic and gullible man who employs adoctor and an apothecary who treat his imaginary illnesses on a full-time basis because of the lucrative fees they can charge. Add a greedy wife, a sleazy lawyer, an outspoken maid and a petulant daughter and you have the makings of a comedy that fits the genre in which Moliere chose to write, one that is based on double images – wise and foolish, right and wrong, good and bad.
. . . his cast have realised them in a production that is, in his words, a “larger than life world full of farce, farts and fraudsters.”
Hilary Bell’s adaptation has refocused Molière’s “critique of a society obsessed with quick fixes” to include more contemporary issues: greedy drug companies, their ‘cure all’ advertising campaigns, susceptible patients and unscrupulous doctors who over-prescribe.
Put this in the hands of director Jo Turner – who admits he loves both ‘high’ and ‘low’ comedy – and you have a production that not only mixes the puns and pratfall zaniness of commedia, but retains Molière’s underlying message which Turner describes simply as … “Don’t be a dickhead.”
Darren Gilshenan brings his well-known energy, physicality and comic timing to the role of Argan. Confined to the satin-curtained set and satin-covered semi-circular bed designed by Michael Hankin, Gilshenan complains and cavorts, cajoles and coaxes, creating an Argan who is both clown and cuckold, dependent on the constant accessibility and forbearance of his shrewd maid/housekeeper – and foil – Toinette.
Lucia Mastrantone shines in this role, savouring the opportunity to use her own comic timing to create a Toinette who is sassy, cheekily disrespectful and astutely in control of every aspect of the household. Her look-alike scene as a doctor towards the end of the play makes the most of the mischief of farce.
Sophie Gregg is elegantly two-faced and schemingly duplicitous as Argan’s money-hungry wife, Beline, and Emma Harvie is gawkily hilarious as his hard done-by . . .
Review continued in Stage Whspers magazine