The Libertine

I watched Dominic Cooper in and as The Libertine at the Royal Haymarket Theatre and give it a 3.5/5 rating.

I wanted to watch it for Dominic Cooper. I started watching Preacher and the bad boy trying to be good role came off remarkably well from him. So when I read the synopsis of The Libertine, I pictured similar shades but with a lot more of the so-called royal excesses. I have to say, I was disappointed.

You see, there is the talk of excesses. There is little to show what it meant. May be when it was written, what the play showed were excesses. But then again the scandalous excesses of Les Liaisons Dangereuses were certainly something. Wolf of Wall Street, now that's excesses. Great Gatsby, that too. Even the threadbare production of Doctor Faustus showed excesses. The Libertine didn't. It showed some crass noise about dicks and dildos, but not a lifestyle. The lifestyle was mostly of a pathetic man whose artistic outcry is that of a 14-year-old boy thinking dicks are so scandalous. He didn't seem in control of anything and his excesses didn't seem to empower him. 

Dominic Cooper was not bad. It was just more of the Preacher, with his broody sense of bad-boy-ness. Nothing remarkable but nothing to be upset about. The actress Elizabeth Barry played by Ophelia Lovibond was well portrayed as a strong woman who is focused and would not change her life for a little drama. However, why she ever went to the Duke in the first place is unconvincing. 

Nina Toussaint-White played Bella, a much more convincing role. She was flamboyant and lit up the play during much of her performance and she defined excesses for the entire play.

The sets were beautiful, though. For a West-end show they managed a few changes and the lighting transformed you into a different era. The costumes and the like added enough authenticity to the play.

All in, it wasn't bad enough to get riled up about it but it wasn't good enough to get excited about either.