Middle is the second in David Eldridge's as yet unfinished trilogy exploring love and relationships.
In Beginning we met Laura and Danny, at the very start of their relationship.
Middle introduces us to Maggie and Gary, in their 50s, parents and married over 12 years. Should they have an honest conversation about life and marriage? Can their marriage stand it?
Raw. Touching. Funny. Real.
Happy New Year All
After the nasty little bug I caught in December, we are shifting the plays back a month, and so we start 2023 with The Unfriend
It is by Steven Moffat who is, depending on your viewing habits, a familiar name from the writing credits of Dr. Who, Sherlock or the film Tintin! The London production got a 4* review in The Guardian, so I'm optimistic!
It is almost certainly the most modern play we have read! Here's the Wikipedia entry:
"The play was due to premiere at the Minerva Theatre, Chichester as part of the 2020 Festival, however due to the COVID-19 pandemic the play was postponed to 2022. The play began previews on 21 May 2022, with a press night on 26 May. It ended its planned limited run on 9 July 2022. The play is directed by Mark Gatiss (in his directorial debut) ... The Unfriend will transfer to the West End, opening at the Criterion Theatre on 19 January 2023, following previews from 15 January. It will play a limited run to 16 April 2023, with the original cast from Chichester all returning."
So if you enjoy it you might be able to get to see it. I am already tempted, as Mark Gatiss has had me almost out of my seat weeping with laughter as a performer!
"Ah, but the play Janet!" I hear you cry.
"We're dying of manners. We're under siege from personal embarrassment. This is not sane. This is not rational. That woman is a monster!"
Peter and Debbie are enjoying a cruise, a celebration of twenty years of marriage, and a break from their annoying teenagers. They befriend fellow passenger, Elsa Jean Krakowski, an eccentric American with a fondness for Donald Trump. There's something slightly unsettling in her overeager friendliness, but there's no point rocking the boat if you're about to get off it.
Back home, in the comfort of suburbia, Elsa suddenly turns up on Peter and Debbie's doorstep, unexpectedly. And when they look up their house guest online, unearthing some hair-raising evidence, their good nature is challenged as never before. What k ind of danger have they allowed to take up residence in their guest room? And can they bring themselves to say anything about it? Sometimes the truth is just too impolite.
This is a 'hilarious and satirical' look at middle-class England's disastrous instinct always to appear nice.
