Dog In A Manger (reviews)

774 reads

Dog In A Manger

"Joe Millson, who is playing the male lead in my show (Dog in the Manger) and Nancy's (House of Desires) is a very exciting actor. He was recently in Sir Peter Hall's As You Like It for which he has been nominated for an Ian Charleson Award I can see him playing other leading roles for the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in the near future if that’s what he wants."

RSC by Laurence Boswell (season director of the Spanish Golden Age Season)

For his part, Teodoro rushes between the mistress and the maid like a flustered commuter. One hilarious scene, where he tries to leave for Spain while rooted to the spot, even reminds one of the endlessly protracted exit of the rozzers in The Pirates of Penzance.

At times you feel Lope is wringing the situation almost dry. But the comedy is sustained by the notion that all love is a form of madness. And, in the second half, Lope spruces up the plot with a neat trick in which Teodoro is identified as a bereaved count's long-lost son.

This development not only fuels the class confusion in the story but also leads to an ironically happy ending in which everyone gets paired off with brutal abandon.

But the joy of Laurence Boswell's production and David Johnston's translation is the way they lend these old Spanish practices a modern resonance: the characters become living archetypes of human giddiness.

And they are played to the hilt by a crack team. Rebecca Johnson's Diana is a superbly contradictory mix of iron propriety and bubbling passion. Joseph Millson, as the bewildered secretary, reminds me of the young Kevin Kline in his ability to mix romantic dash and comic absurdity.

The Guardian Michael Billington April 2004

"Joseph Millson goes through a gamut of emotions as Teodoro. He is fickle, indecisive over which woman he wants, flattered to think that Diana might want him despite his lowly status and unhappy on more than one occasion when he appears to be a loser in love. Millson interprets him as likeable despite his undoubted flaws."

The British Theatre Guide by Peter Lathan (2004)

"Joseph Millson holds the audience in thrall as the perplexed Teodoro"

The Stage by Pat Ashworth26 April 2004

Joseph Millson rounds off a brilliant cast with his wonderfully passionate and comic portrayal of Teodoro.

UK Theatre Reviews by Wayne Miller November 2004

"Joseph Millson's Teodoro is torn, flattered and tempted by the attention of his employer and conveys the predicament well"

Curtain Up by Lizzie Loverage Feb 2005

"Joseph Millson is a marvellously ambitious and by turns delighted and dismayed Teodoro,"

On Line Review London AC Grayling 2005

"The secretary, too, given a strong, sexy performance by Joseph Millson, is much more complex than the conventional ardent lover. "

Daily Telegraph 27/04/2004 by Charles Spencer

"And very swiftly, the tension melts away, as a polite trickle of laughter turns into a torrent. You can feel the audience being won over – persuaded by the confidence and fluency of the ensemble, and seduced by bravura turns: Rebecca Johnson's haughtily regal countess, John Ramm's bombastic ass of a suitor, Joseph Millson and Simon Trinder's sensational double-act as the dithering Teodoro and his doltish servant Tristan."

Daily Telegraph by Dominic Cavendish Nov 2004

De Vega also gives surprising depth to Diana's love, Teodoro (Joseph Millson). In some ways he's a bit of a tosser, happy to take up or drop his earlier lover, Marcela, as fortune demands. But, too, Millson perfectly balances comedy and honesty, he ensures we stay with him all the way. What a charmer!

Reviews Gate by Rod Dungate 2004

What is so good about the evening, besides Laurence Boswell's sparky production, is that it is so full of ambiguities and ambivalence. These are not nice people - Teodoro is callous in the way he discards Marcela and Diana is a calculating bitch - but Joseph Millson and Rebecca Johnson are so delightful in their bewildered contrariness that you long for them to get it together.

The pair are outstanding, but so too are everyone else, particularly John Ramm's lunatic suitor, Simon Trinder's hilarious, quick-thinking servant and Claire Cox's discarded Marcella, whose eyes are two open, weeping wounds

The Guardian Lyn Gardner February 2005

The Royal Shakespeare Company's Playhouse season of three Spanish Golden Age plays is a Good Thing to which I commend all true theatre-goers. Above all, it extends us by giving us three kinds of play we seldom see. It advances our knowledge of theatre; it shows a complex and lightly worn sense of style; and, in each case, it very endearingly entertains.

If you see all three plays, you may find that you lose your heart to several of the season's chief actors; certainly I have. Joseph Millson and Rebecca Johnson, above all, are wonders of humour, grace, and actorly control; Simon Trinder, Claire Cox and John Ramm are charmers with canny skill.

It happens that I went to see them play Dog in the Manger - the season's finest gem - the night after I saw the mis-styled Don Carlos at the Gielgud; Millson and Johnson played with the kind of brilliance, feeling, period flair and high-style command of changing nuance that made me want to see them taking over the Schiller play at once.

Alistair Macaulay FT Feb 2005

That perfectly fits this edgy romantic comedy about a virgin- countess, Diana, who adores her lowly steward Teodoro but keeps refusing to marry him. De Vega's class-crossing lovers are fascinatingly akin to those in Twelfth Night and All's Well..., and the switches between boisterous comedy, satire, suspense and near-tragedy are breathtaking. Boswell's ensemble are superb. Joseph Millson's beautiful Teodoro is desperately confused and simultaneously a hilarious cad - ditching his first love, Marcela, and suggesting Diana might like to subject him to a bed trick.

Kate Bassett Independent on Sunday May 2004