I had seen the 1986 film of this work and was curious to see how it would convert to the theatre - only to find out that it had started as a Royal Court production in 1982.
So, we started out with four seats representing the car - Bob driving and the two girls in the back. Soon, Bob has managed to have 'a jump' with both girls - or have they managed to have one with him? It is a clever play that confronts one with and gets one to confront apparently simple matters. Was Bob wandering because his wife was so unresponsive to his needs? What was the friendship between Rita and Sue when both were seeing Bob secretly as individuals? Were the relationships simply transactional? How justified were Sue's parents in pushing all the blame onto Rita?
We also got a good evocation of the bleakness of the lives that these people were leading. The girls had few prospects and Bob was suffering from a good deal of anxiety about his employment. We were explicitly reminded of the impact of Thatcherism which had a resonance for the issues of today. for these people, there is no strong argument against Brexit - if anything, it is a non-question and one that deserves a random response.
The acting was great and got well-deserved applause. The set worked well and it was an engaging production. All in all a good 80 minutes for a £12 Monday ticket.
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