Tom Conti plays alongside Laurence Fox in a new play by Jonathan Lynn... there is war, peace, laugh-out-loud lines and a hint of historical tragedy. All these, plus a life-or-death moral dilemma, are the ingredients in “The Patriotic Traitor,” about French leaders Charles de Gaulle and Philippe Pétain. It is a coup de théâtre, if ever there was, for the Park Theatre.The double act between the two leads impresses, with the actors working to build on what seems a most improbable relationship - an attraction between opposites. Conti hardly needs any introduction and amusingly starts his bio in the play text with the words “I could have been a helluva plumber.” Fortunately he is a good actor who now has the perfect look for the veteran Pétain, the war hero of the 1916 Battle of Verdun, a wily pragmatist, lover of “tarts,” non-believer in God and later Nazi collaborator.Fox plays Pétain’s prodigy, friend and son manqué – also an uncompromising soldier but otherwise a cold intellectual who believes in his destiny from the start is as a great man and the embodiment of the French state. This leaves him having to deliver lines where, unabashed, he sees himself as the only heir of Charlemagne, Joan of Arc and Napoleon. Fortunately this is narrowly saved from descending into cardboard cutout as De Gaulle awkwardly finds a wife (this is a very male-heavy play) and shows an increasingly human side, even surprising us near the end by relaxing and inadvertently cracking jokes, something previously unheard of.Lynn has well researched the history of the men, using artistic license to imagine what may have been said. There is a long affectionate scene where they bond over a bottle of cognac or two. Conti is hilarious as a man hardly able stand up and Fox slurs his words like a trooper.There are several points where history is just narrated and this clunkiness could have been avoided or possibly worked into the background, which shows a simple map amusingly resembling that of the UK television comedy “Dad’s Army.” This is an ambitious work by Lynn who is known for TV dramas himself such as “Yes Minister.”The relationship is given much time to develop to warmth, then bitterness as they fall out over authorship of a book. This personal story all seems inconsequential given what is to come.The action splits between De Gaulle fleeing to Britain and tussling with a very-British, tea-proffering Lord Halifax while Pétain faces the revolting Laval. It’s hardly a plot spoiler to say that Pétain gets put on trial after the Second World War. The new French leader faces the choice of what to do with his oldest friend, who is convicted of treason and faces execution. This is a long way into the action though.Fortunately there is much to like, right from the men’s first meeting, where De Gaulle is too busy pouring over a philosophy book to salute his superior, right through to the final scene with them gazing at chestnuts and poetically realizing the beauty of trees growing tall.This play is made for a West End transfer. In the meantime it is worth heading out to the Park Theatre, which, as it says on the promotional material, is next to Finsbury Park station on the Victoria Line and therefore within 12 minutes of Oxford Circus.You only have to get over De Gaulle’s constant looking himself up in the history books and some of the gauche dialogue with his wife. She reminds him at one point that he cannot create a constitution for himself because he is not immortal. Her husband’s response is: “that has yet to be proved.”Rating: ****.“The Patriotic Traitor” by Jonathan Lynn is at the Park Theatre Finsbury Park London through March 19.
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