Sandra Oh plays the title role in this very contemporary re-imagining of Molière’s classic dark comedy, THE MISANTHROPE, written by Martin Crimp.
Oh is Alice, a brilliant and successful novelist who despises the carefully constructed lies of modern society. But the more she challenges those around her, the fiercer the backlash becomes. Friendships are strained and reputation impugned. From the start she must confront the price of speaking her truth in a world that would rather silence her.
THE MISANTHROPE busies itself on the arduous and odious task of solving the profound and universal dilemma – whether or not to accept the standards of the society into which one is born. And at what point does conformity become corruption.
Confounding complexity, comic outside, tragic inside, rebelling against inherent hypocrisy, THE MISANTHROPE is a comedy of principle that pesters the conscience with its insistence on absolute candour, which is blind and humourless and therefore funny.
Sandra Oh’s Alice is an egoist fastidiously singling herself out of the herd, yet this intellectual perfectionist falls head over heels for the disarming imperfect doll, a younger actor, Stefan, with all the baggage of a messy divorce, a daughter and an alcohol addiction held delicately in abeyance.
The drama and the comedy comes from the friction between the fact of life as it is and the world as it should be, the commitment to tell the truth, no matter what cost. And in this toxic digital age that cost can be enormous.
Tim Mison as Stefan is passionately shallow a perfect foil to Oh’s deep thinking Alice. And Paul Chahidi is an absolute blast as Alice’s friend and confidante, John, who shows discretion is the better form of diplomacy.
Directed by Indhu Rubasingham on an opulent set of 17th Century baroque by Robert Jones, THE MISANTHROPE is a filmed performance from the National Theatre, London, a brisk ninety minute entertainment.
