Rufus Sewell was far too good-looking to have been playing Melbourne, but almost certainly knew it, as surely did Jenna; yet the chemistry worked, chiefly the chemistry of sharp actors engaging with sharp historical politics.
In Shaftesbury Avenue, a line-up of Reza-sharp actors - Ralph Fiennes, Tamsin Greig, Janet McTeer and Ken Stott - guarantees and justifies full houses.
But that would be to misjudge what makes him one of the sharpest actors of his generation.
He has used him in Gangs of New York (where DiCaprio was demolished by Daniel Day-Lewis), The Aviator (a very silly film) and The Departed (where he was squeezed to the edges of the frame by sharper actors).
This was the Sydney Theater Company, under the artistic direction of Robyn Nevin, a sharp-witted, sharp-eyed actor with tireless energy and strong leadership capacities.
Moisés Kaufman, who directs this European premiere with a trio of needle-sharp young actors, keeps it quick and cool, with the result that this is one of those rare pieces of theatre when you hear an audience gasp.
Jenny Agutter provides "Call the Midwife" with a solid center as the head of the order of nuns with whom the midwives live and work, and several other razor-sharp character actors fill out other roles extremely well, but Miranda Hart, who plays Chummy, walks off with the show.
Mr. Sharp, a former actor, was brought in to rescue Hammer, and not so incidentally his own career.
Periodically Ms. Sharp has an actor shout a line with particular force and volume, possibly to rouse any theatergoers whose eyelids are feeling very heavy.
Up against Nighy, Miles and Sharp for best actor will be Steven Boyer (Hand to God) and Bradley Cooper for The Elephant Man.
