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REVIEWSTHEATRE REVIEWS by Philip FisherDESIGN FOR LIVINGby Noel Coward, Old Vic(playing until 27 November)Noel Coward tends to be best known for very witty, very Englishcomedies such as Private Lives, Blithe Spirit and Hay Fever.He also penned several other racier plays in which sexualpeccadilloes take centre stage.Design for Living, which he wrote as a vehicle to appear with his greatfriends the married couple Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne, falls firmly intothis category. As such, it might well come as a surprise to those whobelieve that such an archetypal Englishman must be entirely respectable.The central figure in Anthony Page’s delightful revival at the Old Vic isGilda, played with great style and humour by Lisa Dillon. She is aninterior designer with a man problem, or to be more exact three,matching the number of sumptuous art deco sets created by LezBrotherston.As the play opens, Gilda seems happy to be living in sin with artistOtto (Tom Burke) in a Parisian garret. However, her bedmate is not theartist but his best friend, Andrew Scott as a rather camp, quirky novelistcalled Leo, with whom by Act 2 she is cohabiting in London.By the final act, Gilda has forsaken them both for the luxury New York penthouse of Angus Wright’s po-faced artdealer Ernest, who one would have thought excessively dull for her tastes. That turns out to be the case when Ottoand Leo turn up unexpectedly, giving a fine impression of sexually ambiguous twins.Kevin Spacey’s theatre has done the play proud, giving Page and his team both on and off stage the financeand latitude to create a really memorable three hours (including two intervals).YES, PRIME MINISTERby Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn, Gielgud Theatre(playing until 15 January)In some ways, there is hardly a need to review the stageversion of this much-loved TV series. Readers will already haveguessed exactly what is on offer and should not be too far out.The original writers have penned a new two-hour long scriptfeaturing the central trio, admittedly with new actors but with aplot that draws ideas and lines from the days when Yes, PM wascompulsory watching close to 30 years ago.In plot terms, PM Jim Hacker tries to juggle a coalition cabinet,the threat of the euro, the bigger threat of Sir Humphrey Applebyand the nasty minister of an oil-rich country – who will happilybail out the UK in exchange for a night out with an underage girl.This is an opportunity for many good laughs but, sadly, verylittle cutting-edge political satire that one would have thoughttoday’s Lib-Con coalition would offer.The good news is that Henry Goodman does an uncanny imitation of Nigel Hawthorne playing Sir Humphrey,David Haig is rather more manic as Hacker, who seems like a cross between Paul Eddington and John Cleese. Aformer Richard III, Jonathan Slinger uses his rubbery features to make Bernard, seemingly always on the verge ofphysical collapse, less urbane than Derek Fowlds.There may not be any big surprises, but there seems little doubt that this transfer from the Chichester FestivalTheatre will be one of the hottest tickets of the autumn, trading on our love of a seminal TV comedy.Philip Fisher is a charteredaccountant and theLondon editor forwww.britishtheatreguide.info28november/december 2010 londonaccountant