A POOR – in
every sense of the word – and puffed-up poet, Trissotin (Paul Trussell),
provides the central character in Ranjit Bolt’s The Sisterhood;
a clever adaption of Moliere’s Les Femmes Savantes.
Moliere is taking a sideswipe at marriage with,
unusually, women in his sights. To provide context, the poet in
Moliere’s time, the seventeenth century, was considered to be the
highest-minded, best-educated, most likely to get the girl, chap around.
Trissiton is simply tall.
Trissiton has been taken under the well-feathered
wing of a family of high-achieving, intellectual women whose attitudes
to men and marriage are about as diverse as is possible
Philaminte, the mother (Julia Watson) is a
high-minded bully whose two eligible daughters are just as determined as
her – but in different ways. Pretty and grounded Henriette (Vanessa
Scholfield) wants to marry Clitandre (Joshua Miles) son of her father’s
best friend and thoroughly good egg. Clever Armande (Katherine Manners)
has been turned down by Clitandre and this is a bone of contention on
which both sharpen their fighting wits.
Philaminte wants Henriette to marry the poet but
here the battle lines are drawn as the girls’ father Chrysale (Peter
Temple) and Uncle Artiste (Paul Hamilton) conspire against the mother
for Henriette to get her way. They suspect that Trissiton’s motives are
more pecuniary than passionate.
The first scene locks the background beautifully.
The set is gorgeous, based on Karl Lagerfeld’s Paris flat c.1987 with
double-height bookcases and elegant double doors, and the script is
elegantly delivered throughout in rhyme!
The women of the house, led by Philaminte, are
choreographed on to the set wearing their sharp 80’s suits to a
selection of 80’s rock and pop standards continuing throughout, Rick
Astley and T’Pau among them; remember them?
The maid Martine has just been sacked for using
poor grammar, and while the father tries to argue her case (‘She can
cook! I can’t eat adjectives!’) he is outgunned.
Vadius (Valentine
Hanson), a poet, is announced and pronounces Trissiton’s poetry
appalling, outdated and even plagiarised – but the women, including Aunt
Belise (Joanna Roth) still insist on his merits. The dénouement is
clever and unexpected, delivered to Billy Idol’s glorious What a Day for a White Wedding and the family united in jollification.
Lovely. Directed by Hamish Glen, the family battle on to 20-02-16.