The False Servant – Orange Tree Theatre
Gender fluid yet stereotypical, Martin Crimp’s translation of Pierre Marivaux’s French play The False Servant is probably the outcome of Commedia del'arte being shredded off its extreme archetypes and placed in a slightly modern context. Often reminiscent of Shakespeare and Moliere’s comedy, filled with subplots, disguise and conceit, wit and irony, courtship and lust, Orange Tree Theatre production presented The False Servant directed by their artistic director Paul Miller.
The play opens announcing its period origins with the ensemble walking and bowing to festive and joyful music. We first meet Trivelin (Will Brown), the voluble and opportunistic aristocrat reduced to poverty by circumstance and Frontin (Uzair Bhatti) who introduces Trivelin to his mistress/ master successfully provi...