STAGE
Breakfast At Tiffany's,
Theatre Royal Haymarket
4/5
IN A NUTSHELL
Sean Mathias directs a playful Anna Friel in the iconic role of good-time girl Holly Golightly.
REVIEW
Anna Friel is a conqueror of worlds. She conquered TV, here and in the US, she conquered movies and now she has magnificently conquered the West End.
Unquestioned acting talent aside, this may be because Friel has a sweet and winning way. She is not boringly beautiful, instead she is an attractive, feline and playful presence. This ensures the role of generous good-time girl Holly Golightly fits her like a rather stylish hat atop a perfectly tailored dress.
That's not to say her performance does not require work - she sings, she plays the guitar, she dances, she maintains a Texan accent, she traipses around naked - but such is her rich accrual of experience, she trips through this multi-tasking with winsome ease.
Against this star turn, William Parsons has a far more arduous and gritty job, forever twirling in the perfumed wake of his enigmatic love.
Joseph Cross puts in the hard yards to keep up. He deserves great credit for supporting the structure of the play on his shoulders and from an overwrought beginning, he brings light and depth to the young writer.
Sean Mathias's production is closer to the Truman Capote original novella than the spritely Audrey Hepburn remake and Friel is perfectly adept at drawing out the heartache behind the smile that is Holly's crowded secret.
Notable among an army of support is James Dreyfus as Hollywood schmuck OJ Berman. Dreyfus gives a broad and entertaining comic cameo perfectly attuned to the '40s screwball motif running through the piece. Dermot Crowley is a neat portrayal of battered desire as barman Joe Bell and Suzanne Bertish gives Madame Spanella a fruity edge for laughs.
Special mention also to Jasper the cat which, although required to do very little, did what it was supposed to do and, crucially, didn't do what it wasn't.
The story centres on the writer's enchantment by a Texan rose with a prickly past who has come to New York seeking excitement and glamour.
Her freewheeling, carefree flirtation with dangerous cads is destined to catch up with her but she keeps her inevitable - and moving - downfall at bay with a balancing act of evasion, charm and puckish high jinx.
The plot is urgent and demanding, and Antony Ward's design requires jack-in-the-box tricks to keep up the frenetic pace of the story.
Two zig-zag fire escapes waltz across the multi-level stage and there's forever something going on, up there, down here, over there. Cinematic in structure, scenes collide, come and go in an instant and nothing lingers for long.
This is, I suppose, to capture the elusive and teasing nature of the minxy main character but, boy, do you have to keep your wits about you.
The early scenes are crammed to the gills and it is only later that everything settles to an accommodating pace, allowing for a more measured exploration of the relationship between Parsons and big-hearted Holly.
Breakfast At Tiffany's is wonderful West End fare - a spectacle, an occasion, a night to remember - with Holly's dashing blonde bob leaving a long comet trail in the memory.
Until January 9.
