In the 32 years Philip Prowse has been part of the Citizens' directorial triumvirate, the theatre has gained a reputation for originality, camp and barefaced cheek. His adaptation of Colette's novel of the sexually dissolute French upper classes can only enhance that reputation. Ageing blue-blooded beauty Léa's love affair with the beautiful boy Chéri is coming to an end. The young man is the neglected son of Charlotte, one of the decaying decadents of the society set. Brimming with bourgeois confidence, Chéri believes he can marry young society lady Edmée yet continue his oedipal trysts with Léa.
Prowse's production eschews the narrative hang-ups that hamstring many stage adaptations of novels and gets straight to the theatrical heart. The result is a tremendous blend of social disintegration and studied shallowness. The society women are obsessed with youth, and in terror of the process of ageing. As they worship Chéri's malevolence and conceit, they talk as if the "little evil angel" were a phenomenon of nature, rather than their creation.
The piece reeks of putrefaction and amorality. It is as if Chekhov and Wilde had got together to satirise the early 20th-century French bourgeoisie. Léa's insistence that taking Chéri in was an act of charity is pure Wilde. The amorous old gent Jean-Gabriel sitting in on the ladies' drinks party overflows with Chekhovian disappointment.
Joanna Tope's Léa has all of the outward self-assurance the character requires, yet her debilitating fear of loss is never far from the surface. It is only in the casting of Chéri where things go awry. Seamus Whitty is out of his depth in the complexities of the role, and tends to over-play the lip-curling indolence. Never the less, this sharply observed production maintains an intelligent poise and balance.
· Until March 1. Box office: 0141-429 0022.
