This show presents several puzzles: how can it drag for 40 minutes and then zip along for 30? How are there underpowered performances then energetically hilarious turns moments later? How does director Sarah Tipple marshal her resources around the Crucible perfectly in one moment and then seem to lose grip of the space’s unique demands the next?
This Roger McGough translation of Molière’s Le Malade Imaginaire won fans in 2009. For a good portion of the first act, you wonder why this historic piece wasn’t left in the past. The staging feels laborious and though all farces (while technically a comédie-ballet, there are false moustaches, entrances and exits aplenty) demand a lot of set up, it takes some time to hit its straps.
When it does, with the arrival of Chris Hannon and Garmon Rhys as Dr Diaforius and his son Thomas, it becomes genuinely funny.
McGough’s story via Molière tells of wealthy Argan who spends his time and money on constant visits to various doctors, hoping not to gain immortality but simply to stave off death. He wants to marry his daughter off to a doctor to avoid costly bills and keep it in the family, while the servants, his brother and the rest of the household hatch another plan for Argan.
As the hypochondriac of the title, Edward Hogg is someone with whom you don’t want to spend time. The beautifully intricate set from Colin Richmond dwarfs all performances until the arrival of Hannon and Rhys.
Hannon is a stalwart of pantomime at another Yorkshire venue, Theatre Royal Wakefield, and his chops with an audience are immediately apparent. He is the first to fill the space and Rhys matches his exaggerated and exactly calibrated performance.
Hannon and Rhys appear to fully understand the demands of farce. You can’t play it seriously, but if you play it for laughs you look desperate. Their performances have an air of postmodernism – they know they are in a farce, allow the audience in on the joke, and we laugh at the absurdity. It takes a specific skill to play that and it’s a skill Hannon has learned and Rhys clearly possesses. A puzzling, curate’s egg of a piece that is not without good bits.
• At Crucible, Sheffield until 21 October.
