Classic beauty Jane Seymour flails in her Asian debut

JANE Seymour - screen siren, ex-Bond girl, English rose for all season - makes her Asian stage debut in The British Theatre Playhouse's production of The Vortex, now running at Raffles Hotel's Jubilee Theatre, directed by Bob Thomson. And while the actress still cuts a trim and fetching figure on stage at the age of 65, her performance is something of a disappointment in Neil Coward's 1924 play.

As the ageing socialite Florence Lancaster who is rapidly on the decline, Seymour gives a rather shallow interpretation. She purrs like a shrew at the beginning. She screams angrily and thrashes about in a one-note fashion for the climax.

The role of the prodigal beauty is complex and hard to like, but better actors playing anti-heroic roles find within them a wellspring of sincerity and conviction to at least help the audience understand their characters' tragic flaw. Seymour delivers her lines loudly, imperiously and with little nuance - leaving us to guess why the socialite Florence still has any friends left.