Theatre

The real thing

The Old Vic, London

5/5

Dazzlingly entertaining

As a fan of Tom Stoppard, I didn’t want to miss this opportunity to see a revival of The real thing, written in 1982, which I last saw in 2000. I had completely forgotten the story, only remembered that it is a play about relationships featuring two couples. When we got to scene three, my heart sank when I realised that the play is about infidelities. What a bore! However my faith in the Old Vic was restored as the director Max Webster and excellent cast handled the play well, and in the slightly more serious second half successfully delivered the point of the play.

A smart smug playwright Henry, played by James McArdle, cheats on his formidable wife Charlotte, played with aplomb by Susan Wokoma, and goes on to marry his new younger lover, Annie, played by Bel Powley. His second marriage reaches a similar stage of bickering, arguing and ironic ripostes that we witnessed in the first, and he is then in turn cuckolded. Although it doesn’t appear so due to his ironic and acerbic wit, Henry is actually committed to the relationship he is currently in, and Annie’s adultery really hurts him. The infidelities are mirrored and foretold in the first scene which enacts a section from Henry’s play where a husband flamboyantly confronts his wife about her betrayals. To pleasantly complicate matters theatrically the husband and wife in this first scene of a play within a play are enacted by Charlotte and Annie’s first husband, Max, who are both actors.

Is it dated? Perhaps a little, although it has not aged as much as Stoppard’s Rock’n’roll revived last year at the Hampstead Theatre. A sign of a good play I think is that it can be adapted to the times and enjoyed, and The real thing does fairly well, although some are likely to find fault with the self-satisfied ‘privileged’ setting even though this is very much its subject matter.

Stoppard’s plays are intensely word-based which makes them unsuitable for directorial gimmicks and I am happy to report that there were very few. The director’s input was visible in the excellent staging, acting and timing. Each scene was separated by a bit of pop music from the 60s, favourites of the main character. In one instance, stage hands who visibly reset the props for each scene were merrily included in the dance number which provided light entertainment all around.

The joy of Stoppard’s plays is always in effortless smart and witty dialogue, not the kind that the real people speak, but the kind real people would like to speak. The actors deliver this dialogue beautifully and flesh out the characters accordingly. Susan Wokoma is a pleasure to watch as the strong first wife, James McArdle embodies the main character without a fault, and Bel Powley sensitively builds the character of Annie, a young actress who wants to be taken seriously. Interesting fact, Bel Powley played Thomasina in the Broadway production of Stoppard’s Arcadia in 2011.

An obvious stand-in for the author, Henry laments that love is difficult to write about without banality or sentimentality, nevertheless Stoppard tries to prove himself wrong in this play. Perhaps inevitably Arcadia, the play Stoppard wrote after The real thing, is a masterpiece on love, among other things.

The point of the play you ask, well it frames and describes the messiness of falling in and out of love as well as trying to maintain a relationship. Stoppard wins our sympathy for Henry as we see him in pain, even if it may seem that his suffering is somewhat deserved. The author does not take sides –  except for good writing which is compared to a cricket bat in a memorable scene – and the portrayal of the vagaries of love is realistic and occasionally unsettling. In the first half the conflict takes form of an intensely amusing battle of the sexes, while in the second the emotional damage is visible for the first time and the tone becomes more mature and fatalistic, without losing the Stoppard light touch.