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:

2 October 2002

Well, it isn’t a cliché for nothing. Life does indeed imitate art with the West End return - little more than a year after it finished its first post-National Theatre run at the Old Vic - of Life x 3.

As you watch this new quartet – David Haig, Belinda Lang, David Yelland and Serena Evans having replaced originals Mark Rylance, Harriet Walter, Oliver Cotton and Imelda Staunton - tackle Art author Yasmina Reza’s enigmatic comedy of manners about two astrophysicists and their wives, you can’t help but sharing a sinking feeling of déja vu (or perhaps that should be trésja vu) with the characters.

The evening begins with a fraught Henri and Sonia, who are trying to coax their whining six-year-old to sleep when the doorbell rings. Enter Hubert, Henri’s older and much more successful colleague, and his stay-at-home wife Ines, who have arrived for a dinner party a day earlier than expected. With the plaintive cries of the child...

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Latest User Review

USER: Whatsonstage.com - 8 October 2002:

Having seen Yasmina Reza's Art early in the year I thought this might be a good comedy too. Sadly it was not a patch on Art. Yes the show did have its funny moments - usually when it came from one liners or put downs. All of the cast were good and you couldn't not like David Haig. I thought the third 'Life' was the weakest of the three takes and it ended rather oddly. I would say the show is worth seeing but it did not make me laugh as much as I thought it would and at 90 minutes it was long enough...

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