Otherwise Engaged

Synopsis

Publisher Simon Hench is urbane, sophisticated, selfish and keeps himself at a distance from the distractions of family and friends. As Simon settles in for a quiet night with Wagner's Parsifal, he is besieged by a stream of unwelcome visitors, and his cool demeanour buckles as life finally catches up with him. Warning: Contains scenes of an adult nature.

Our Review:

1 November 2005

Simon Gray brings the baggage of rueful regret to most things, it seems, Even the supposedly welcome sight of a revival of one of his early plays, Otherwise Engaged – itself, of course, about the kind of regrets that permeate through life -- prompts a programme note in which he looks back at those actors now dead from the play’s original 1975 production, or of family connected to them, and says that, “for a playwright, much more than a play is revived, when one of his older plays is revived”.

In this case, however, there may be a stake even higher to re-claim: his dramatic reputation. Across some 25 plays (and the brilliant backstage diaries of the making – and unmaking – of four of the later ones, that have been decidedly better than the plays themselves), we have seen a slow dwindling of his dramatic fire and passion.

But in this richly textured play that deploys a constant stream of laughter to brilliantly mask the pain that courses through it, ...

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Latest User Review

137.108.145.10) - 25 January 2006:

I enjoyed this play immensely, found it witty and entertaining, the humour is as fresh now as it was when first performed. Particularly liked the performances of Anthony Head and Peter Wight, both were excenent. Very polished performances from all the cast, and I evne laughed out loud more than once, loved it!...

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