The Misanthrope: Early reviews praise Keira Knightley
Compiled by Jack Foley
KEIRA Knightley’s West End debut has drawn a largely favourable response from London critics, even though the play itself has been given a mixed verdict.
An updated version of Moliere’s 17th Century comedy The Misanthrope set in modern day London, the play stars Damian Lewis as Alceste, a famous British playwright, who is disillusioned and angry with the hypocrisy, shallowness and vanity of the contemporary world.
He vows to reject society, only to have his plans derailed when he falls in love with Jennifer (Knightley), a darling of the social scene.
Leading the approval for Knightley’s performance, The Guardian‘s Michael Billington wrote: “Since she [Knightley]‘s playing a movie star in her 20s, one could say that she is not unduly stretched.
“But Knightley brings to the role fine, sculpted features, palpable intelligence and a nice mix of faux-innocence and flirtiness. Even if she doesn’t always know what to do with her hands, she gives a perfectly creditable performance.”
He added: “My main doubt concerns the continuing validity of Crimp’s modern-dress Molière.” Full review
The Telegraph, meanwhile, states that “after a hesitant start in her eagerly awaited stage debut, Knightley gets better and better”.
Chief critic Charles Spencer notes: “In the early scenes Knightley seems a touch tentative, lacking in both energy and presence. In the second half however, in which she bitchily insults a false friend and has a real humdinger of a row with the jealous Alceste, she reveals both power and poignancy.”
He concludes of the production itself: “This stinging, zinging play would be a hit without Knightley. With her, it becomes unmissable.”
Benedict Nightingale, of The Times, wrote of Knightley’s performance: “She catches the waywardness, occasionally the steel behind the velvety manner, the narcissistic love of attention, but not the authority to explain how she can dominate a gathering by more than beauty.”
And of the play, which he awarded three stars, he adds: “They [Knightley and Martin Crimp’s update] did keep me engrossed for two hours.”
The Independent, meanwhile, opined: “The critical knives were unsheathed and quivering. So it’s a tonic to report that Knightley finesses all this ethical fussing by turning in a performance that is not only strikingly convincing but, at times, rather thrilling in its satiric aplomb.”
It went on to award the production a healthy four stars.
The Stage, meanwhile, concludes this overview by asking the question: “There’s only one thing you want to know about this revival of Martin Crimp’s 1996 translation of Moliere’s greatest comedy, and that’s can Keira Knightley act on stage?”
It answers: “Aside from a voice that is almost as thin as she, yes, she can.”
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