Many Roads to Paradise

Synopsis

North London. Across a crowded karaoke bar, chunky travel agent Martin nervously catches the eye of his not-so-young internet stud. At a Jewish residential care home, blind and elderly Stella shares make-up and millinery tips with her Muslim nurse. And in their spacious house, a long-term lesbian relationship crumbles as Helen and her alcoholic partner squabble viciously over fig and honey tart. Six people whose lives are inextricably linked, each searching for some kind of salvation. But with so many roads to paradise, which one will they choose?

Our Review:

Michael Coveney - 12 October 2009

Three couples are intermingled in Stewart Permutt’s cleverly constructed, bittersweet comedy Many Roads to Paradise, previously seen at the Finborough.

There is blind old Stella (Thelma Ruby, replacing the indisposed Miriam Karlin) with her Muslim nurse Sadia (Elizabeth Uter; if her role was cut, would it be known as an uterine contraction?) in a Jewish residential care home. These two learn to love each other more as the play progresses.

Then there is Stella’s lumpen lesbian daughter Helen (Gillian Hanna) who lives with Amanda Boxer’s grotesquely butch remaindered radio producer Avril in a ménage that stirs memories of Frank Marcus’ The Killing of Sister George, though Boxer is far more like Margaret Courtenay on the rampage than Lally Bowers in trousers.

And nervous little middle-aged Martin (Tim Stern), first seen edging into a “hairy bear” pick-up relationship in a karaoke bar with you...

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Latest User Review

kiburncat - 12 October 2009:

The play is around 90 mins plus a short interval and makes for an entertaining and thought provoking evening. The relationship between the two women is fascinating to watch, and the presence of the Muslim nurse adds another dimension, the character of the hustler seems slightly incomplete although his relationship with the timid travel agent is quite credible. Well worth seeing....

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