Theatre Review: The Libertine (West End)

The Libertine review: Dominic Cooper commands in this solid re-staging of Stephen Jeffreys’ modern classic.

The Libertine review by Paul Heath, September 2016.

Jasper Britton and Dominic Cooper in The Libertine. Photo: Alastair Muir

Dominic Cooper headlines the latest interpretation of British playwright Stephen Jeffreys’ The Libertine, the story of John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester, a notorious rake and libertine poet in the court of King Charles II of England.

Cooper addresses the audience with the commanding line ‘You will not like me.’, in the play’s opening moment, a statement referring his deplorable hellraiser rather than this lavish revival of perhaps one of the modern day’s greatest theatrical works. We liked ‘him’, and ‘it’ a lot.

Dominic Cooper in The Libertine. Photo: Alastair Muir

‘The gentlemen will be envious and the women will be repelled.’

Jeffreys’ delicious, hedonistic and rather explicit story charts Wilmot’s journey from royal fave to drunken wreck set largely amongst the backstage drama of a theatre company during the reign of Charles II. Cooper broods confidence as the title character – a commanding role previously played by John Malkovich in Chicago and then of course by Johnny Depp in the high-profile, though significantly under-watched 2004 film version. Although Cooper is slightly older than his subject (Cooper is 38 – Wilmot died of syphilis at the age of 33), his boyish looks, certainty and stage swagger make his performance believable and extremely watchable.

Though Cooper is the big draw for this ten-week run in the West End (transferring from an initial staging in Bath), it is the supporting players who truly wow. Ophelia Lovibond (Mrs. Barry), Alice Bailey Johnson (Elizabeth) and Nina Toussaint-White (Jane) are superb, though Jasper Britton (Charles II), Mark Hadfield (Etherege), Richard Teverson (Sackville) and Will Merrick (Billy) are virtually flawless and easily this staging’s biggest assets.

Nina Toussaint White in The Libertine. Photo: Alastair Muir

The design, by Tim Shortall is simple, though impressive – a stage-wide portrait is our main point-of focus – and Terry Johnson’s sumptuous direction is superb.

“Do not warm to me,” to quote Cooper’s enigmatic, charismatic Rochester at the start once again. It is really hard not to.

The Libertine review by Paul Heath, September 2016.

The Libertine plays at the Theatre Royal Haymarket until December 3rd. Tickets here.