If anyone tells you that the West End is dumbing down point them in the direction of the Wyndham’s Theatre which is about to play host to a revival of the National Theatre's production of PEOPLE, PLACES AND THINGS.
It’s not a musical, it’s a serious and entertaining new play and such is the appetite for quality drama in London’s theatreland that the run has had to be extended. It’s now booking until 18 June 2016.
Directed by Jeremy Herrin (who recently had a massive hit with the stage adaptation of WOLF HALL) the show follows Emma, an actress whose life has been turned upside down by drink and drug addiction and is the latest collaboration between theatre company Headlong and the National Theatre.
The National Theatre’s press office give us the following tantalising taste of the plot –
“An intoxicating new play about surviving the modern world. Emma was having the time of her life. Now she’s in rehab. Her first step is to admit that she has a problem. But the problem isn’t with Emma, it’s with everything else. She needs to tell the truth. But she’s smart enough to know that there’s no such thing. When intoxication feels like the only way to survive the modern world, how can she ever sober up?”
It features an acclaimed performance from Denise Gough for which she was nominated as Best Actress in A Play for the WhatsOnStage Awards. Born in Ennis, County Clare she is the elder sister of the actress Kelly Gough and has notched up notable performances in both theatre and on television, including the play The Painter (2011) and Messiah V: The Rapture. In 2012 she was nominated for the Milton Shulman Award for Outstanding Newcomer at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards for her performances in Eugene O'Neill's DESIRE UNDER THE ELMS at the Lyric Hammersmith and Nancy Harris's OUR NEW GIRL at the Bush Theatre. In January 2014 she played Julia in THE DUCHESS OF MALFI, the inaugural production at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, London
PEOPLE, PLACES AND THINGS was also nominated for Best New Play in the Whatsonstage Awards and won four stars reviews from critics in the Guardian, Time Out, Independent, The Times, Financial Times, Observer, The Sunday Times, Mail on Sunday and Sunday Express.
I can’t wait to see it.
Who’d have thought that this season’s smash hit musical would be a show that’s nearly half a century old!