Crimp's version of the Misanthrope is shallow.
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Martin Crimp has taken Moliere's the Misanthrope and turned it into a tale of whiners and one-dimensional characters. The entire play reeks of self-absorption. There is no arch to any of the characters. They each remain the same throughout the entire piece, and no one learns anything in the end of all of it. The play consists of one scene after another of characters who are out to get each other and genuinely do not like one another. It leaves the reader (or audience) with a feeling of hatred towards all of the characters. There is not a single character for a genuine feeling human being to identify with. They are all so self-obsessed and shallow that they do not even think to stop and deal with the problems they have with each other. Even Alceste, who claims to be fed up with all the hypocrisy, leads his own life in hypocrisy because he is too involved in himself to listen to his girlfriend and actually put a little faith in someone besides himself. Crimp needs to go back and revise to have at least one scene in which there is not a major argument. At the moment, there is not a single point at which the audience can relax. They are too caught up in all the tensions between all the characters.
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