Review: A wickedly witty explosion of fun with the RSC's Mrs Rich in Stratford

On paper, she’s really not very likeable. It’s a good job then that the vain, pompous, shallow, emotionally detached character of Mrs Rich is brought to such glorious life in Jo Davies’s production of Mary Pix’s play. Every second our titular quasi-heroine is on stage, the action sparks and fizzes delightfully.

And here we have a conundrum, because things are distinctly and almost invariably less good when she’s not around. For tranches of the first half, it’s hard to shake the sense that there is an ecstatically riotous show desperate to break out, but hidebound by uneven pacing and some oddly inhibited performances. It seems to come together fully only in the second half; but when it does, it’s a triumph, and well worth the wait.

Written in 1700 and originally called The Beau Defeated, the play focuses on the widow of the title and her determination to become a ‘woman of quality’, chiefly through marrying the right man. She and her associates then woo and are wooed by suitors of varying suitability. It’s proudly anti-sentimental, even anti-romantic - some lines are so acidic they burn the air - yet exudes a mischievous charm.