Amongst Friends

Synopsis

Journalist Lara, and her ex-MP and crime writer husband Richard, are happy and successful. Having moved to a fashionable ‘gated community’ they invite their old neighbours Caitlin and Joe to dinner. When the security system fails the food for dinner is delivered by a stranger and the dinner party takes quite a different turn... Amongst Friends is a darkly comic social satire.

Our Review:

27 May 2009

The trouble with Patrick Connellan’s design for April de Angelis’ new play is that it’s too much, and too noisy. Every time someone takes a step on the wooden parquet floor, the noise reverberates like a BBC radio sound effect, and as Helen Baxendale as Lara is wearing killer high heels, you also start to worry about how many holes she might be making on her own terrain.

But that’s only half of it. Lara, a tabloid journalist, lives in a South London gated community with her ex-MP novelist husband Richard (Aden Gillett), literally walled in by huge piles of brick. Through them, we can see a vast illuminated cityscape, like the ones you see in CSI New York as establishing shots. A blue lift goes up and down at the side.

I think we get the message that these people have cut themselves off, but the point is extravagantly made: how much do they have to spend on these Hampstead sets? There’s more money flying around on hardware than there is time s...

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Latest User Review

rds - 6 June 2009:

dgr1 - no way is this in any way, shape or form Ayckbourn! It was however, a masterpiece in bad writing. I would agree the characters are unlikeable and as a consequence one doesn't give a toss about them. The performances are on a par with an Amdram production. James Dreyfus dishes out the same old performance he's been touting recently - why is he trying to play a straight man? His sorry attempts make him a great candidate to play Albin in La Cage aux Folle, but get a grip man, you are not cut out for it - play camp you are superb at it. It beggars belief this play got past a first reading. The set though is stunning, but was far too good for this dire drivel. The sooner it closes the better. Don't waste your hard earned(?) money on it. ...

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