The Man of Mode - TNT
26th February 2007
George Etherege's 1676 Restoration comedy comes bang up to date in Nicholas Hytner's slick, stylishly conceived restaging. It's a heartless tale of the dangers of falling for a self-confessed lothario who sends love letters by email and always has his camera phone at the ready. About to be dumped, Mrs Loveit becomes the proprietor of an upmarket lingerie boutique, and Lady Townley lends her name to a swanky London bar in a superficial society where sex and money are everything. Designer Vicki Mortimer does it proud. Not all the performances are quite up to scratch in the demanding Olivier space, but Bertie Carvel impresses as ice-cold Dorimant's gay confidant and Rory Kinnear's gullible, overdressed Sir Fopling Flutter steals the show, adding a soupçon of vulnerability to his blissfully comic preening.