A Perfect Gentleman

London Review:

What's On
by John Thaxter

For 30 years Lord Chesterfield, a busy statesman and literateur, seldom missed writing a daily letter to Philip, his shy and awkward son, offering him fatherly advice on etiquette, conversation and how to approach women. But when they were collected and published in 1774, Cowper described Chesterfield as a corrupter of youth, while Johnson thought his letters taught the morals of a whore and the manners of a dancing master.

Judge for yourself with his delightful new play by American writer Herbert Appleman who weaves Chesterfield's dry wit and domestic life into a post-restoration comedy, providing a civilized and entertaining portrait of 18th-century high society, stylishly directed by Michael Friday.

Memorable set-pieces include Chesterfield's verbal sparring with William Sleigh in a sharp cameo role as the corruptible prime minister, Elizabeth Counsell as the worldly widow attempting to bring Philip to the boil, and a scene in the boy's lodgings when Chesterfield first comes face to face with Jacinta Mulcahy as his future daughter-in-law.

Not least of the evening's pleasures are the designs by Charles Cusick-Smith, Chesterfield's library setting giving on to a leafy garden, and superbly tailored period costumes in patterned monochrome.