Robert Tanitch reviews The Beaux’ Stratagem at National Theatre/Olivier Theatre.
George Farquhar in 1707 was living in dire poverty in a garret and seriously ill with tuberculosis. Robert Wilks, the actor, a life-long friend, for whom he had created the role of Sir Harry Wildair in The Constant Couple and which had given Wilks one of his biggest successes, gave him some money to write a comedy.
Six weeks later The Beaux’ Stratagem was staged. Wilks played Archer. Mrs Sullen was created by Anne Oldfield whom Farquhar had discovered when he was 22 and she 16 and a barmaid working in the Haymarket area.
The premiere was a great success. Seven weeks later Farquhar was dead. He was only 29.
The two beaux are Aimwell and Archer. They are seriously broke, having squandered their inheritances. Their stratagem is to leave London and go in search of a fortune.
They are looking for rich women to marry. “No woman can be a beauty without a fortune.” They arrive in Lichfield, disguised as master and servant.
Mrs Sullen, a lady of refined taste, who lives in Lichfield but longs to live in London, is unhappily married to a lethargic drunkard who loathes her as much as she loathes him.
They have been married 14 months. It feels like 14 years. They are totally incompatible.
Farquhar knew all about unhappy marriages. He had married an older woman or rather an older man had married him. He believed she had money, only to find she had no money.
The real subject matter of the play is not marriage but divorce. The final scene, the happy ending, would have been wishful thinking for women in the 18th century.
Mrs Sullen attracted all the great actresses of the 18th century. The National Theatre in 1970, when it was still at the Old Vic, had one of its biggest successes with a production directed by William Gaskill and starring Maggie Smith.
The present revival, directed by Simon Godwin, is great fun and the best since then. Samuel Barnett is Aimwell. Geoffrey Streatfeild is Archer. Susannah Fielding is Mrs Sullen. The scene in the picture gallery, when Archer is shamelessly flattering Mrs Sullen, is sheer delight.
There is a very amusing performance by Pearce Quigley as Scrub, the servant. It is a supporting role but so good that many famous leading actors have been attracted to it, including Macklin and Garrick.
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