I have read the first two reviews of this play and unfortunately would bore a reader if I did the same, the reviews already submitted are as accurate as I could have said it, so I will focus on one cast member in particular - the one and only Maggie Smith! On the day of my birth, Maggie was 31, so by the time I would be interested in film/theatre Maggie would be cast as a senior figure and not in roles that would make her a young mans pin up girl.
However - as my own years roll on my desire for nostalgia along with technology making it so accessible, I have been rolling back the years to see the difference in my interpretation of film etc..
I could not believe the impact Maggie had on me in her role as Epifania, the longer the play rolled the more I realised just how stunning Maggie was and she was 38 when this play was filmed! As we age the only organ we posses that doesn't are our eyes, even in her now 80's, Maggie's eyes are always the first thing you are drawn to, but in this wonderfully chaotic play, Maggie is playing a hard, soulless woman and as usual delivers a 10/10, however, in scenes that the camera focused on Maggie, a metamorphosis takes place in front of your very own eyes and you see a beauty in those deeply set pools of warmth like precious jewels just below the surface of an ocean of snow white china!
To aspire today to what Maggie was in this play, an actress would have to be wearing less cloth than a cosy for a stamp and more make up than a decade order for the clown department of a travelling circus - Maggie, with barely the sight of a stocking covered ankle, radiated appeal that modern day aspiration can merely dream of!
As Epifania is such a cold hard character, I suggest reader that you pause a scene where Maggie is full screen head and shoulders, detach from Epifania a few moments and really look at Maggie - she was beautiful!
The Millionairess? - 10/10! I loved it....