5 November 2015. Waste at the National Theatre.

I went to see this in its preview period and so was unprimed by any critics. I found it a slightly hard play to get into and pin the different characters down. Anyway, as the play unfolded it revealed itself as the story of an earnest politician, Henry Trebell, promoting disestablishment who impregnated the wife, Amy O'Connell, of an Irish politician,. She went on to die from the abortion that she elected to have, not because of the scandal but simply because she never wanted children. The scandal breaks and the second half revolves around the establishment trying to protect itself by cojoling the cuckolded husband not to reveal that the aborted child was not of his issue. When this fails, Henry Trebell shoots himself - the Waste of the title.

It is a quite lengthy - almost three hours - play with very little action - mainly lengthy dialogues. At one stage, I noticed how the main actor was pacing up and down the stage, delivering his lines, for want of anything else happening. It was an interesting evening, particularly given the fact that the play was banned at the time of its writing in the 1920s. It also dealt well with the sleaze and hypocrisy of the political class and the role of women at the time as, of necessity, the embodiment of the power behind the throne.