An older man's plans to marry his naive ward, raised to know nothing of the world, are scuppered when she accidentally falls in love with a young stranger who tips his hat to her in the street. Arnolphe's schemes to cut short their budding romance create a pacy, slapstick social comedy where Arnolphe, so often laughing at others' faults, is himself made the fool. Running throughout is a harsher subtext of manipulation and surveillance, all brought out in this funky new adaptation of Moliere's classic where sharply rescripted dialogue blends with paranoias and sexual fantasies.