Noel Coward is well known for plays like Private Lives and Hay Fever, but The Marquise is one of his least performed productions. He wrote it in 1927 for his friend and actress Marie Tempest, and unlike most of his work which is set in the 1920s, 30s and 40s, he positioned The Marquise in 1735.
For this version of the play though, director Philip Wilson has moved the action to the 1930s which makes it much more familar territory for Noel Coward fans.
The play begins in a grand Art Deco villa in France where two families have come together ahead of a wedding. The home belongs to Raoul de Vriaac whose daughter Adrienne is about to get hitched to Miguel, the son of Raoul’s best friend Esteban el Duco Santaguano.
All seems simple until we find out that Miguel and Adrienne are in love with other people and they don’t want to marry.
As the couple work out a plan to avoid the marriage, The Marquise Eloise de Kestournel arrives. She claims to be a stranger who needs help after her car broken down but we soon find out that she is very much not a stranger and is actually the former partner of Raoul.
As stories from the past unravel, more secrets are revealed which, without giving anything away, makes the coming together of the two families very complicated!
The Marquise is an enjoyable and funny production. There are fantastic moments of farce and we absolutely loved the scene featuring an hilariously disastrous attempt at a duel by Raoul and Esteban.
BAFTA TV Award winner Juliet Aubrey shines as The Marquise, a fabulously flamboyant woman who cleverly manipulates everyone to her advantage. Simon Shepherd and Tristan Gemmill are great too as Raoul and Esteban, two friends with very different personalities.
It’s a great show overall although the first act is a little slow in parts. It really comes into its own in the second act though as the consequences of past actions play out. The fantastic Art Deco set and wonderful period costumes are a delight too.
This may not be one of Noel Coward’s smash hit plays but it’s well worth a watch.
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The Marquise is at Theatre Royal Bath until 20 June
Images by Alastair Muir
