Bell Shakespeare’s The Miser is right in the here and now, thanks to Justin Fleming’s translation

Moliere probably never heard the phrase “fish-bum”.But 350 years after the French playwright completed The Miser, contemporary Australians know straight off that a fish-bum is someone who’s as tight as a fish’s you-know-what.

Left to right: Harriet Gordon-Anderson as Elise, Jessica Tovey as Valere, and John Bell as The Miser. Picture: Prudence Upton

Moliere probably never heard the phrase “fish-bum”.

But 350 years after the French playwright completed his final masterpiece, The Miser, contemporary Australians know straight off that a fish-bum is someone who’s as tight as a fish’s you-know-what.

Justin Fleming’s translation of The Miser — it’s a full-blown rewrite, really — felt completely comfortable and up-to-date when the play premiered last week at the Sydney Opera House.

Replete with familiar gems from the Australian lexicon, it was easy to relate to all the characters as though they were living in the here and now.

Anna Tregloan’s costume designs straddled Moliere’s time and our own, with the warp in 17th century and the weft in the 21st.

Sean O’Shea as Signor Anselm and La Fleche, and Damien Strouthos as Cleante, both sported powdered wigs and modern suits whose colours recalled the age of fops and dandies.

Jessica Tovey as Valere was timelessly elegant, and Harriet Gordon-Anderson as Elise had great fun with her apricot-coloured faux fur coat.

Bell’s carpet slippers, braces and saggy trousers were fairly timeless in the Steptoe and Son tradition.

Left to right: Sean O'Shea, Harriet Gordon-Anderson, Jessica Tovey, Elizabeth Nabben. At rear: John Bell, Michelle Doake and Russell Smith. Picture: Prudence Upton

Sean O'Shea (sitting) and Damien Strouthos in The Miser. Picture: Prudence Upton

But his later appearance as a creaky lady-killer was all Saturday Night Fever on sedatives. People roared with laughter.

Tightly directed by Peter Evans, The Miser called on every cast member’s comic timing.

Bell was brilliant as old Harpagon, who has 10,000 gold crowns buried in his backyard — well hidden from everyone, including his daughter Elise and son Cleante.

Stingy and scheming, Bell’s Harpagon was fixated on the protection of his precious hoard and convinced that the whole world should be arrested when it goes missing.

Michelle Doake was hilarious in the role of the marriage broker Frosine. Every move of her body, every flicker of her face, was loaded with expression.

Michelle Doake and Sean O'Shea in Bell Shakespeare’s The Miser. Picture: Prudence Upton

Damien Strouthos as Cleante, and Harriet Gordon-Anderson as Elise, in The Miser. Picture: Prudence Upton

Harriet Gordon-Anderson (left) and Jessica Tovey in The Miser. Picture: Prudence Upton

Tovey as Harpagon’s servant Valere was a brisk, mercurial presence on stage, as she balanced her romantic love for Harpagon’s daughter with her need to keep Harpagon happy with a steady stream of flattery.

O’Shea had total command over his roles, and was very funny.

Strouthos was wonderful as the love-struck Cleante who must work out how to solve a terrible dilemma — he and his father want to marry the same woman, Mariane — without alienating his inheritance.

Elizabeth Nabben as Mariane showed comic revulsion for the miserly old Harpagon.

Jamie Oxenbould as Master Jacques, and Russell Smith as Master Simon and the Commissioner of Police, completed the ensemble in which every single member lived up to the whole.

The Miser is on at the Sydney Opera House until April 6.