This was an excellently acted two-hander with Lindsay Duncan and Alex Jennings as stay-at-home in the Cotswolds wife and Tory Minister husband. Sitting through it, I felt thoroughly engaged and sufficiently won over by the lines to buy the text. However, on reading it through and reflecting, I think this was more an entertaining evening with a few extremely pithy and savage observations than a great play.
The characters err on being caricatures. He - Robin Hesketh - is the Etonian, stand-on-your-own-feet Tory; Diana is the bored, boozy wife who seems to have totally failed to realize her talents, apart from spouting a brand of champagne socialism. They tear strips off each other but I felt she had the better lines - maybe because of my own sympathies. Some punches land and feel relevant to today's Brexit Britain - especially the weird awe in which Etonians are held by a significant tranche of the electorate, coupled with a dread of foreigners. Set in the 1980s, a particular bone of contention is the Tories' Section 28 legislation that forebad the 'encouragement' of homosexuality.
Robin stays in London during the week and married Diana following an affair which they conducted when he maintained a similar routine - using his time in London to sneak off for the affair. Now, Diana suspects him of repeating history. The almost too predictable twist is that he has a soft side after all - hardly news to a psychologist and was as devastated as she was when their son committed suicide having felt rejected by the mother when she found him dressed in her clothes.
This great revelation was thoroughly well acted but really felt all too predictable. Furthermore, it does not, on reflection, seem to get one anywhere in 'makes one think' terms.
Anyway, all in all, it was an entertaining 80 minutes and one that I instantly recommended. The punches as delivered by this pair landed very satisfyingly.
No comments:
Post a Comment