Charlotte Rambling

Went to see Marivaux's The False Servant at the National Theatre last night. Great translation by Martin Crimp, shame about the performance.
Why is it that directors feel that plays have to mean something? All this was meant to be was a comedy. Unfortunately it was read as:

Lust and avarice trample on the finer feelings of love in this subversive take on sexual manners and the cruelties of courtship.

There's no doubt that it's tricky to transfer 300-year-old jokes to the contemporary stage, but when you miss so many opportunities for the comic in the way you stage a play, you can't expect people to enjoy it. Even the actors didn't seem to care: Charlotte Rampling in the lead got her lines wrong three times.