Mary Chase’s whimsical farce, which premiered on Broadway in 1944, was wartime escapism and extremely popular with American audiences. Harvey is a giant six-foot, three-and-a-half inch rabbit, the constant companion of an eccentric alcoholic and only visible to him. The role is forever identified with James Stewart who played him in New York and in London and on film; but James Dreyfus is absolutely fine, finding his own way to act this sweet guy, who is friendly to everybody. His sister (Maureen Lipman) wants to lock him up in an asylum. The irony is she is far more insane than he is. I was reminded of James Thurber’s much more succinct short story, The Unicorn in the Garden.
Chase’s play was always far too long and far too slow and the present production is badly in need of editing. There are long stretches without any laughs. Harvey is only interesting when the rabbit is on-stage with Dreyfus; and the rabbit is off-stage for too much of the time.