Although this potent two-hander from South African playwright Craig Higginson is set in Paris, it could just as easily unfold in any slick, modern metropolis, so universally pertinent are its themes. In 90 stylish and compelling minutes, it explores love, language and the politics of race, as well as dwelling perceptively on the stories we tell ourselves and other people.
London-born Celia (Fiona Button), rich, beautiful and brittle, gives English lessons in her chic Parisian flat, decked out with a chaise longue and all the right sorts of books. Her latest pupil is enthusiastic French-Congolese student Pierre (Clifford Samuel), who claims to have fled unspeakable horrors in Africa. Celia, it appears, is also in flight from something or someone, but are they just telling each other the things they think they want to hear?
Higginson’s skill lies in the way the pair uses the learning of various grammatical structures to talk about their burgeoning connection: “If he wanted to … touch her, she would let him?” asks Pierre, tentatively.
Button and Samuel capture with precision the shifting balance of power, and the delicate Button is particularly fine as she edges from preternatural composure at the start to raw deflation at the end.
It’s the sort of performance that deserves to be rewarded come awards season — and surely would be if it were given in a more prominent theatre — but all too rarely is.
A piece this layered necessitates fine-touch direction and gets just that from Tim Roseman. James Perkins’s design helps too, conjuring up a perfect little world that its inhabitant can only fill with unhappiness.
Until April 14 (020 7978 7040, theatre503.com)
