The only other Tom Stoppard play I have seen is Rosencrantz and Guildernstern are Dead, so I wasn't sure what to expect.
It's certainly very different to R and G. It was written (and in this production is set) in the early 1980s, and stars Laurence Fox as Henry, a successful playwright, although we don't meet him until the second scene; the opening scene is (as we later learn) a scene from his most recent play, dealing with a successful architect (played by Henry's friend Max ( Adam Jackson-Smith )) who believes his wife (played by Henry's wife Charlotte (Rebecca Johnson) has been unfaithful to him.
The play then revolves about Henry's relationships - we learn that he has been having an affair with Max's wife, actor Annie (Flora Spencer-Longhurst).
The play addresses issues of love, fidelity and infidelity, and art and writing in particular. There is an ongoing sub-plot about 'Brodie', a young Scottish soldier imprisoned for desecrating the Cenotaph, allegedly in protest against nuclear weapons. We learn early on that Annie is a member of a committee seeking to claim that he is a political prisoner, having met him on a train. She visits him in prison and encourages him to write a play based on his experiences, resulting in further discussions of good and bad writing, with an excellent cricket bat analogy. (And a little twist at the end of the play)
It was entertaining. Not, in my view, as much fun as Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, and more than a little brittle and self-indulgent, but definitely entertaining.
Full disclosure. Despite the photo on the front of the programme, Laurence Fox does not, at any point, take his top off.
The play is on tour until 4th November.
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