Theatre review: Un Petit Moliere, Edinburgh

AT THE heart of a Molière comedy, there’s always one indispensable figure: the buffoon, the pompous old ass who deserves to have the wool pulled over his eyes.

Un Petit Moliere

Stewart’s Melville College, Edinburgh

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And if there is one theatre company whose members might have been born to understand that urge to mock the pretentious, it’s Lung Ha’s of Edinburgh, with its 20-year track record of enabling adults with learning difficulties to take part in full-scale, professionally crafted theatre.

Lung Ha’s director, Maria Oller, has therefore made an inspired choice, in commissioning brilliant young playwright Morna Pearson to adapt two short Molière plays for the company.

On a stage beautifully designed by Karen Tennant and lit by Jeanine Davies – like a 17th-century toy theatre, ablaze with red and gold paint – the 20-strong company make light work of the first play, The Seductive Countess, featuring a fine trio of performances from Stephanie Henderson as the arrogant Countess, Teri Robb as her smart young ward, and Stephan Tait as the young Viscount who comes a-wooing.

The second play, The Flying Doctor, is less successful, a long one-line joke about two dodgy servants who dress up as a doctor and his assistant. Even here, though, there’s an impressive performance from Douglas Briglmen as the servant Sganarelle. And although some of the actors have limited movement and speech, the 70-minute show reflects the truth that theatre is not primarily about language, or even about choreography; but about a deep and witty grasp of the underlying point of the drama, which this company has, in abundance.