Life x 3

Synopsis

Henri and Sonia are putting their son to bed when an unexpected knock at the door throws them into disarray. Hubert and Ines have arrived for dinner, a day earlier than expected....As the evening degenerates, Yasmina Reza blends cruel observations with high comedy in an hilarious and poignant examination of our most personal intimacies and private longings.

Our Review:

11 December 2000

Note: This review dates from the production's original run at the National Theatre in December 2000.

French playwright Yasmina Reza is best known for the long-running West End hit, Art, which has been playing at Wyndham's Theatre since October 1996. Like Art, this new play, Life x 3 (named more revealingly in French, Trois Versions de la Vie) is a sophisticated comedy of manners – bad manners, that is.

Instead of three friends arguing over the merits of a piece of modern art, here we have two scientists and their wives arguing over our place in the cosmos. Which makes the tittle-tattle and scarping sound much loftier than it is. In fact, it's very down and dirty and all the more compelling for it.

The evening begins with a fraught Henry and Sonia, who are trying to coax their whining six-year-old to sleep when the doorbell rings. Enter Hubert, Henry's older and much more successful colleague, and his stay...

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Latest User Review

USER: Whatsonstage.com - 6 April 2001:

Brief bt vry funny. The entire cast is outstanding. Its especially nice to see Mark Rylance out of classical Globe garb. He should do more modern comedies, more West End stuff....

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