★★★★

“A bittersweet tale succinctly expressed and elegantly performed”

Noël Coward’s “Still Life” was first presented in 1936 at the Phoenix Theatre, starring the writer himself alongside Gertrude Lawrence. Although one-act plays were unfashionable at the time, Coward was a particular fan of the genre so, in 1935, he conceived the idea of a set of short plays to run in repertory under the umbrella title “Tonight at 8.30”. Most people, of course, know the story through David Lean’s full-length feature film “Brief Encounter”. A romantic drama that portrays the chance meeting, ensuing love affair and ultimate leave-taking of a doctor and a married woman. It’s not a happy ending and is one of Coward’s more serious undertakings.

The sadness and seriousness of the lead couple’s secret affair, however, is offset by lighter moments courtesy of the other characters that populate the refreshment room of Milford Junction railway station. The current production, directed by Tam Williams, brings these contrasts to the fore with a remarkable, site-specific staging in the grand saloon of Theatre Royal Drury Lane. Despite it being a touch more opulent than Milford Junction, it is an ideal setting. The audience are seated at the tables (carriages) that surround the central bar, becoming ‘extras’ to the action while taking afternoon tea. The station café is run by Myrtle (Elizabeth Elvin) who spends most of the time flirtatiously fending off the amorous attentions of ticket-inspector Albert (Antony Jardine). Waiting for her train is Laura (Rachel Pickup) who, when she gets a bit of coaldust in her eye, provides the prefect cue for physician Alec (Alasdair Craig) to come to the rescue. A series of five vignettes charts the course of their romance over the subsequent year.

The sparks that fly don’t ever light up the sky, but the subdued, Englishness of the courtship is its essential charm. Both Pickup and Craig are masters of the understatement. Pickup is steeped in dignity and composure while Craig’s contained matter-of-factness betrays his profession and consequent social interactions. The emotion fizzes beneath this decent and proper veneer and eventually, when they seem to be about to break through, it is all just too late. Elvin’s Myrtle is playful but down to earth, tolerating with unfettered affection Jardine’s frisky station master. Meanwhile, there is Seren Sandham-Davies as Beryl who never fails to add to the delightful dynamics (Jardine and Sandham-Davies also double up – demonstrating a striking versatility – as other colourful characters).

Music is a pivotal part of the production, with Jardine switching from banjo to guitar, and Sandham-Davies linking the scenes at the piano. Frequently bursting into song, they never break out of character – it’s what these café workers do to pass the time of day. The hustle bustle of the station whirls around us like a delicate gale, the eye of which contains the stillness of Laura and Alec’s story. Theirs is a still life, but unseen currents are raging under the surface. The climax is upon us all too soon, and it lands with a sadness. Laura wants to follow her heart, but the unfortunate arrival of Dolly, her busy-body friend (Elvin) delays her, and offstage we hear the sound of Alec’s train departing one final time.

The setting is lavish, but the high ceilings of the salon are a challenge to the acoustics. Words are sometimes lost and aurally we occasionally lose sense of the location. But the cast rise above it, refusing to let the emotional richness go amiss. A bittersweet tale succinctly expressed and elegantly performed. There is no back story, and some of the side story (glimpses of Laura’s home life, for example) is passed over. But we get all we need from the characterisation. And we get more that we need on the tiered cake stands that are brought to the tables. Tea and sympathy – an English cliché perhaps, but the perfect combination in this case.

BEDROOM FARCE at the The Mill at Sonning

★★★★

“this vibrant revival offers many laugh-out-loud moments”

Based on a real-life incident in the author’s Stephen Joseph Theatre company in Scarborough, the comedy is set over the course of one Saturday night/Sunday morning in three different bedrooms. Wisely the director (Robin Herford, a stalwart of The Mill and an active member of Ayckbourn’s Scarborough based company, for just over a decade, earlier in his career) and designer (Michael Holt) have firmly set the show in the mid-1970s. Some of the language used, attitudes and relationships portrayed are decidedly ‘of their time’, although have the ring of truth still.

Three married couples, linked together with a fourth, by family, friendship and past relationships, ready themselves for an evening of enjoyment. The show opens with Ernest (Stuart Fox), obsessed with the damp patch in the spare room, and Delia (Julia Hills) dressing for an anniversary meal at their favourite restaurant. They consider themselves ‘regulars as they go every year’. Delia wants to talk about their son Trevor (Ben Porter) and the ‘bedroom problems’ he is having with his wife, the ‘entirely unsuitable’, Susannah (Allie Croker). Both of whom are on the guest list for prankster newlyweds, Malcolm (Antony Eden) and Kate’s (Rhiannon Handy) housewarming party that night. As are Jan (Georgia Burnell), the ‘much more suitable’ former partner of Trevor and Nick (Damien Matthews), her now husband.

Amidst the laughter there is exploration of what it means to be a married couple, the potential for infidelity and what a wife might expect to have to do to make a marriage work or the sensitivity of a husband’s ego. There is also a nod to the mental health pressures and potential victimhood within a relationship more talked about and taken more seriously today, perhaps, than fifty years ago. The more pragmatic ‘shut-up and carry-on’ attitude of Delia contrasting with the lack of confidence and self-doubt of her daughter-in-law, who is portrayed well as a nervous, irritatingly bird-like creature, repeating her mantra of self-worth at every unobserved opportunity.

There is plenty of good physical comedy too. Largely around Nick’s incapacity due to a ‘wrecked back’ meaning he remains at home alone in bed whilst Jan attends the party. This is added to through Malcolm’s attempt to prove himself, pitted against a flat-pack ‘surprise’ for his and Kate’s bedroom. The ‘coats on the bed’ of the party leading to an encounter between the former lovers, on which the rest of the plot turns, having earlier provided several moments of fine comic timing from Kate, still not ready as the guests start to arrive, being buried by the dozens of coats of the unseen guests downstairs.

The linchpin of Trevor, played with appalling self-obsession, belief and lack of awareness, wrecks not only the party, by fighting with Susannah, but also the night of Nick and Jan by descending unannounced to entirely unnecessarily apologise for his earlier actions. With Suzannah seeking her mother-in-law’s help disturbing the night of the older couple and the increasingly frenetic DIY that of the newlyweds, there is not much sleep for anyone. With Graham Weymouth’s quick and subtle lighting changes helping to shift focus across the three contrasting bedrooms on stage, the farcical element of the play alluded to in the title is enhanced well.

Ayckbourn is perhaps best known for his popular plays focused heavily on marriage in the middle classes and this vibrant revival offers many laugh-out-loud moments alongside a reassuring peek at earlier, seemingly simpler times that hints at the complications lurking below all marriages. You should see this production if you are content to laugh at yourself or those you know.

Tag Archives: Andreas Lambis

STILL LIFE

★★★★

Theatre Royal Drury Lane

STILL LIFE

Theatre Royal Drury Lane

★★★★

“A bittersweet tale succinctly expressed and elegantly performed”

STILL LIFE

Theatre Royal Drury Lane

Reviewed on 7th September 2026

by Jonathan Evans

Photography by Andreas Lambis

STILL LIFE

STILL LIFE

STILL LIFE

BEDROOM FARCE

★★★★

The Mill at Sonning

BEDROOM FARCE at the The Mill at Sonning

★★★★

“this vibrant revival offers many laugh-out-loud moments”