Writer: Jill Hyem
Director: Sally Hughes
If you decided to cross The Golden Girls with Shirley Valentine, you wouldn’t be surprised if We’ll Always Have Paris was the result.
It’s the story of three former school chums who, now of a ‘certain age’, happen to reconnect in Paris. Recently retired school headmistress Nancy (Elizabeth Elvin) has decided to live out a childhood fantasy and move to Paris. She lives in a rented flat in the centre of Paris and, coincidently finds that a long-lost school friend, Rachel (Debbie Arnold), who now goes by the name of Raquel, lives in the same neighbourhood. Five husbands down, Raquel lustful appetites seem not to have abated.
Anna (Natalie Ogle) is the third of the school gang. She’s recently unencumbered following the passing of her husband whom she nursed for many years despite not being in love with him. She’s comparatively shy and a bit of a wallflower. Her first real break since her miserable marriage, she decides to visit Nancy for a weekend.
The former classmates reunite for the first time since school and reminisce and update each other on their lives to date. Each has their own challenges to overcome and their own reasons for seeking something different from the life they were expected to slide into at this stage of their life. There are laughs, fights, confrontations, accidents, transformations and even, courtesy of the local handyman (Richard Keep), the possibility of new romance.
Sally Hughes’ direction is wonderfully light and keeps everything moving at great pace. Each of the cast members delivers authentic performances and they all interact wonderfully well with each other. You’d not be surprised if you found out they were friends off stage as well as on.
We’ll Always Have Paris slides seamlessly into the canon of ‘third chapter of life’ stories, such as Shirley Valentine and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, but doesn’t quite do it with such charm or panache. Hanging over the whole production is one big niggling feeling, ‘What’s the point?’ The show is delightfully entertaining. It’s well-written, well-acted, and mildly amusing (with some decent laughs thrown in for good measure), but you’re wondering where the story is going.
At the end of the second act, each character has made some change to their life but whole thing feels a bit of a damp squib. There are tidy resolutions all round and you walk out feeling thoroughly entertained but you just can’t shake off the feeling of ‘so what’.
Ultimately, We’ll Always Have Paris will make you laugh, it’ll make you question your own life choices and it may even tempt you to a little adventure of your own, but it unfortunately fails to achieve the sum of its parts.
Tickets to this show include a 2-course meal.
Runs until 11 March 2023
