I met my friend at Kingston train station early, and together we walked through the Friday evening shopping crowds in the town centre before installing ourselves at busy Druid’s Head pub for a pre-theatre drink, some chips and fish finger sandwiches. The nearby Wagamama seemed to be playing host to the majority of fellow theatre goers though.
At 7pm we settled into our comfortable double seat benches at this modern theatre and prepared to be entertained. All we knew was that the Michael Frayn play was about a young couple – Cath (played by Zawe Ashton) and Phil (Alex Beckett) – starting out their life together in a studio flat at the top of a house owned by Pat (Alison Steadman).
The set depicted a spacious but somewhat tired room with a bathroom and a curtain covered nook for storage – plus a teddy bear left over by the previous occupants. Cath and Phil enter the room on a spontaneous viewing and start one of those touchingly sensitive “What do you think?” exchanges where a new couple tries to gauge each other’s thoughts before sharing their own – so desperate to please.
There were early laughs as the exchange quickly escalated to a philosophical debate, multiple misinterpretations and a clash of styles and desires. The quick-fire exchanges were brilliantly delivered and captured the insecurity, tenderness and occasional irritability at the tortuous meanderings of a new couple’s decision making dialogues.
This set up a delicate background against which Steadman’s down to earth (Cockney), tell-it-as-it-is, cynical explanation of life – the trials of raising kids, the persistent coughing and demise of a partner and the subsequent solitary existence - provided a sharp contrast. There were lots of laughs through these exchanges although Steadman took the lion’s share of the credit for the comedy.
The script touched on the “stars in the eyes” of the new couple who are naïve about all these important life milestones ahead. We began to wonder whether we envied the new couple at the start of their life together or Pat who was stolid about being near its end and happy with her lot.
At the interval we decided that we had no idea of where the play was going or what its conclusion might be, which we found rather refreshing. After the interval we returned to the room now that the couple have settled in – having acquired more furniture and belongings - and the additional clutter provided an analogy for how the relationship had evolved.
There was a beautifully rendered demonstration of one of those pointless arguments that emerge when two people have grown used to each other’s company and start to mark out territories. Again, Pat’s contribution on how her and her late husband divided the household responsibilities provided some more breathtakingly honest observations and more comic highlights.
There’s further bickering between Cath and Phil before a poignant reminder that behind such constant, fractious and wearing negotiations of life’s minutiae lies a couple who love each other deeply. The final scene sees them preparing to leave the room as they set off on the journey of the rest of their lives.
It’s a beautiful, touching and realistic portrayal of hopeful young love contrasted with the weary acknowledgement that there’s a lot of dull and difficult things to deal with in life and, I guess, a message that we shouldn’t sweat the small stuff. Yet the undercurrent of comedy makes it all so palatable.
As we sipped our post-theatre drinks on the riverside at The Bishop Out of Residence, our main thought that was whilst we enjoyed the evolution of the relationship and interplay between Cath and Phil, we would have liked to have seen a bit more of Ms Steadman in her fabulous Pat character creation - for every time she was on stage she dominated it and held the audience in her thrall.
“Here” runs until 12th May and tickets are available from the Rose Theatre box office (08444 821 556) or from www.rosetheatrekingson.org.
