This perceptive tale of cohabitation and property speculation won Stephen Jeffreys Most Promising Playwright at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards in 1989. Michael Fentiman’s 30th anniversary revival, a year on from Jeffreys’ death, shows it to be remarkably prescient about the London property market and the damage financial inequity does to friendships. The production begins shakily, but gains steadily in conviction.
Ten years after graduating from Southampton, music journalist Paul, would-be comedian Sherry, economist Howard and Marion who is “in computers” are sharing a shabby flat in South Kensington. When developer Scott buys the building it’s their chance to cash in or get on the property ladder. But their finances are as badly out of balance as their personal relations, leading to divisions between the haves and have nots.
Natalie Casey’s Sherry is so scatty and needy it seems improbable the others would tolerate her so long and Paul and Marion’s relationship doesn’t quite convince. Even though all of them become, in Scott’s words, “grasping capitalist bastards”, it feels like Catrin Stewart’s Marion is particularly vilified as a sell-out and a social climber. Sam Frenchum and Michael Marcus are initially low-powered as Paul and Howard, and the addition of Nicolas Tennant’s philosophical builder, who claims the housing market is driven by romantic break-ups, is a whimsical touch.
But the play is solidly if schematically structured and has extremely pithy things to say about the way homes have become assets, about gentrification and about boom and bust. It feels like Jeffreys predicted the 1990s “negative equity” property crash. Fentiman’s production takes place on a simple revolving set of the quartet’s shared living room, with deft 80s touches added by the costume and sound designers. His show recalls a time when Kensington flats cost £90k, computers were a rarity, and pegged jeans were a thing. And it makes you miss Jeffreys’ beady-eyed talent.
Until Oct 12 (020 8174 0900, rosetheatrekingston.org)
Latest theatre reviews
