Directed by Michael Grandage, it premiered at the Donmar Warehouse theatre in London on 6 December 2006, running until 10 February 2007,
starring Rhys Ifans as the lordly Don Juan, a priapic lothario cutting a swathe through modern Soho.[2]Stephen Wight played his sidekick Stan, his "hilarious little Munchkin, keeper of the Blackberry" on which DJ stores a record of his 5,000 conquests; a performance which was to help Wight to win the Evening Standard Theatre Award 2007 for Outstanding Newcomer. Don Juan's wife was played by Laura Pyper while David Ryall portrayed his father, Louis. Adam Cork provided techno-Mozartian musical interludes.
Of the production, Benedict NightingaleinThe Times wrote "Dont ask me how Ifans' DJ manages urbanely to pick up a posh girl while having fellatio with an un-posh one in a hospital corridor. Let's just say he does — and it's hilarious".[citation needed] There was critical praise for Christopher Oram's settings. "Keep an eye on that famous statue. Like so much in this production, it will astonish you".[3]
The production received mixed reviews. Commenting on the performances in his 4-star review for The Guardian, Michael Billington commented "Tennant’s performance that gives the play a disturbing ambivalence...Scarborough is equally good as his potato-faced sidekick".[5] In his 2-star review for The Daily Telegraph, Dominic Cavendish was less favourable, stating "Not even David Tennant in a posing pouch can save this flaccid comedy...A red-light from me, then, for this flaccid affair although, for some, the temptation to ogle Tennant in the flesh will prove too great to resist."[6]
