London Lives

The Priory, Royal Court Theatre SW1W
Written by Michael Wynne
Directed by Jeremy Herrin
Cast: Nick Blood, Jessica Hynes, Alastair Mackenzie, Joseph Millson, Rupert Penry-Jones, Charlotte Riley, Rachael Stirling

This comedy is about successful but unhappy thirty-somethings gathering on New Year’s Eve and all the underlying angst that suggests. In the wrong hands, this could have been twee nonsense that moves to a neat resolution. But this this is deftly handled: sharply written and directed, with a tightly co-ordinated cast. More importantly, it’s funny. All of the characters’ lives have been interlaced but are now moving in different directions. Motivations, love, ambitions and locale are all fluid and up for grabs.

Rachael Stirling (Rebecca) and Charlotte Riley (Laura) are particularly appalling characters and loathsome house-guests. In context, of course, this gives them amusing lines to deliver and they inevitably unravel even more quickly than the others. Laura’s potential to unravel is more evident from the start, although this takes a darker and more unexpected turn when it does come.

There are quirky elements, too: the mention of the dressing-up box near the start hints at masquerades to come. It never takes long for the men, in particular, to start dressing up and unburdening themselves while wearing dresses (lovely Rupert Henry-Jones spends some time doing this). The resolution is still neat, in a manner of speaking, when Kate (Jessica Hynes) declares to Daniel (Joseph Millson) about life: “This is it, and it’s okay. This is it, this is it, this it.”

First time to the Royal Court for me and we had seats on the Balcony (upper circle), in a similar position to those at the old Vic last week. Great stage set – I really liked it. Decent pub food and a couple of glasses of wine in the Duke of Wellington round the corner in Belgravia beforehand. An excellent night out.

As we move into the Bank Holiday, it became clear today that vast swathes of London’s population seems to be (a) away from London, or (b) at the Carnival. The bus slipped steadily around near-empty streets as it moved from the Edgware Road and into Paddington. No chance to glimpse Bayswater today, as the bus was diverted before then, to tuck down other roads away from the Carnival.

It’s one of my favourite areas of London, the slightly faded glamour of Paddington seeping into the whitewashed houses of Bayswater. But even here, there is an element of transition and griminess in the streets of little hotels. From here, it’s possible to explore Ladbroke Grove, or continue on to W9 and Maida Vale.

But today it was to Fulham and then Chelsea, looking for nick-nacks and cookware. Once, when I was standing outside Peter Jones on Sloane Square, a man walked past me with four Great Danes. It was like a cacophony of legs; impossible to tell where one Dane ended and another began.