Having been a great fan of Noel Coward for many years I am ashamed to say that this is one play I did not know. Coward had had huge success, particularly with Blithe Spirit and Private Lives, before the Second World War, and in fact both were running, one as a revival, when peace broke out. He never quite regained his position as a playwright although as a songwriter and cabaret artist he was triumphant.
       Relative Values, written in 1952, cannot compare to those two great plays, and its obsession with class does not have the same relevance in today's society. But it deserves better treatment than it receives at the hands of Joe Harmston in this production. It may have elements of farce as all Coward's plays do, but this does not mean that farce is all there is to it.
       The scene is the home of Felicity, Countess of Marshwood (the forever young and graceful Susan Hampshire). She is awaiting the arrival of her son who is bringing with him the notoriously famous Hollywood actress, Miranda Frayle (Michelle Gomez), as his fiancé. This is Nigel's second marriage, the first having been mercifully short, but equally unsuitable as far as his mother is concerned. We soon discover that not only is Miranda undoubtedly from a different class, but is, in fact, the sister of Felicity's maid. 'Class' is a constant preoccupation for every member of the household: as important to the maid and the butler that they remain in theirs as it is to the Countess. 'Moxie' (as the maid is affectionately known) insists that she cannot stay one minute in the house after her sister enters it, and unwittingly sets in motion the plan that will save them all. After several false starts, Felicity, her nephew and the butler with a little help from chance succeed in making Nigel see his fiancé for the false cold-hearted gold digger that she is. There is natural comedy in the situation and Coward's writing as always is full of some wonderful one-liners.
       Susan Hampshire has good comic timing and gets the lion's share of the laughs. And Ruth Arnold as Moxie actually moved me to tears at one point. But at many points during the evening, the words that sprung to mindor rather, would have, if they had not already been voiced by those around mewere Hi-de-Hi and Pantomime. This is not what Coward should be. There was a lot of very amateurish hamming that was not only irritating but greatly detracted from what could have been a wonderful evening. In the majority of instances though, I felt it was the direction rather than the acting which encouraged this. Although Michelle Gomez was amazingly sexy, particularly in the stunning backless pink and purple gown she made her entrance in, I found it very hard to believe that anyone would fall in love with her or that anyone could possibly believe a word she said.
       Many of the directing choices completely confounded me. There was a shawl draped over a chair at the start of the play which I couldn't help noticing had big holes in it, as it was moved from one chair to another for no apparent reason other than to give the actors' some 'business'. In fact there was a lot of physical action that was imposed on the actors without good reason.
       Howard Davies exquisite production of Private Lives, currently running in the West End, proves that Coward can be done retaining all the style but at the same time showing the real emotion and humanity of the characters. There were certainly flashes of this in Relative Values but it was too often obscured. It was a pity because the production looked wonderful and has great potential. It will be interesting to see if it lives up to this potential when it reaches the West End.
Francine Brody