by Patrick Marber
seen at the Donmar Warehouse 19 March 2015
This is the first London professional revival of Patrick Marber's 1997 play, sanctioned by the playwright. Directed by David Leveaux it features Rufus Sewell as Larry, Nancy Carroll as Anna, Olver Chris as Dan and Rachel Redford as Alice, with the set designed by Bunny Christie and the lighting by Hugh Vanstone.
The characters meet by chance or in the course of their working lives; at first Alice and Dan are together after an accidental meeting resulting from a traffic injury. Anna and Larry become interested in one another, having met as a consequence of an extraordinary (and theatrically famous) internet chat session in which Anna was impersonated by Dan. But Dan also falls for Anna; Larry eventually takes up with Alice; finally all have gone their separate ways and no-one is happy. The headlong sense of entitlement and an uneasy sense that one should be 'honest' no matter the cost means that most of the professions of love are basically self-centred and the idea of day-to-day commitment comes a sorry last in anyone's priorities.
