There they are. Three friends studying that picture. Stephen Tompkinson (Ivan), Nigel Havers(Serge) and Denis Lawson (Marc). A terrific cast who have us in fits of laughter throughout. Whipped into shape by director Ellie Jones. As their names suggest, we are in France and the banter between the three is not always nice.
First staged in 1996, Christopher Hampton explains in the programme how Sean Connery held the British rights to Yasmina's Reza's play and was employed by Sean to do the translation that we saw last night. It ran for eight years in London, rare for something not a musical.
There is also a photo in the programme of the original cast: Albert Finney, Tom Courtney and Ken Stott. How poignant that today we learnt of the death of Finney at the age of 82.
I loved the set by Mark Thomson, the tall, beautifully unblemished walls of the apartments with superb lighting by Hugh Vanstone. An earlier performance in Northampton was noted by one reviewer for it's depleted audience. But the Playhouse has been nearly sold out all week. Last night's audience were very enthusiastic, bursting into applause for Tompkinson's long monologue about the trials of his coming nuptials.
Just under ninety minutes straight through, the intensity could never be broken with an interval. We even get Pinter type pauses, especially when a bowl of olives gives some tempers a break.
No comments:
Post a Comment