I am staggered by our current indifference to Shaw: when, for instance, did the National Theatre last revive one of his plays? Peter Hall almost single-handedly keeps the Shavian flame alight; and his revival of this 1897 comedy captures perfectly its Mozartian ability to handle serious issues with an airy lightness and grace.
On one level, the play harks back to Wilde's The Importance: the three children of a feminist author, Mrs Clandon, find themselves in need of a father to gain social acceptance and discover him in the form of an ill-tempered seaside yacht-builder. On another level, the play offers a classic Shavian sex-duel that anticipates Man and Superman: the 1890s new woman, Gloria Clandon, confronts an impecunious dentist, Valentine, and, after a good deal of romantic sparring, both find themselves surrendering to the evolutionary imperative.
What this synopsis leaves out of account is the play's defining character, an omniscient hotel Waiter; and Edward Fox here steps effortlessly into shoes once occupied by Ralph Richardson and Michael Hordern. With his hooded eyes and seamed features, Fox resembles a benign owl. He also suggests a crisp intelligence behind the shuffling deference: Fox is the original man in the ironic mask. His great moment comes when the Waiter's QC son Beckettianly announces: "It's unwise to be born; it's unwise to be married; it's unwise to live; it's wise to die." Fox's quiet reply of "so much the worse for wisdom" brilliantly shows affable pragmatism undercutting intellectual theory.
Not all the casting is equally precise. Mrs Clandon is Shaw's joke at the expense of veteran feminists who cared more about social principles than people; but Diana Quick has a hard time suppressing her voluptuous warmth and seems more Mrs Warren than Mrs Clandon. Nancy Carroll, however, catches exactly Gloria's fiery confusion and Ryan Kiggell is outstanding as the carefree, five-shilling dentist. Sinead Matthews and Matthew Dunphy convey the frightening precociousness of the younger Clandons and explain precisely why Ken Bones as their irascible father is finally glad to be shot of them. But what makes this an exhilarating evening is that Hall brings to Shaw exactly the same musicality and playful seriousness that he would to Cosi Fan Tutte.
· Until September 3. Box office: 01225 448844.
