Writer: Rebecca Mason
Director: Amalia Kontesi
Rebecca Mason has written a rom-com for the over 50s, where the meet-cute involves a man (Phil) and a woman (Louise) in their 60s running into each other on a remote railway station. Despite the depredations of time, they recognise each other and explore their previous meeting, 40 years ago when they were twenty and in love. Then he dumped her.
It is a contrived premise, but it is in place to allow the pair to reflect on experiences and choices, and maybe realise what they could have done differently, and better. It’s sentimental, wistful, a bit maudlin, but does provide a reasonable premise for exploring that elapsed time.
What the set-up doesn’t allow is very much action – two sexagenarians sitting on a bench in a railway station, discussing their lives and loves, is very much not a recipe for explosive physical theatre. Movement, when it happens, is fidgety and small, and to get any sort of stage dynamic, the play relies on a slate of minor characters acting out moments from the lives of the couple, including two representations of their younger selves. It makes for a very static two hours.
The intentions of the piece are honourable, mostly the woman’s reflections on how unfulfilled she has been. She embraces a very eat/pray/love self-actualising future, so that’s nice, and the man in his 60s is less self-absorbed and more supportive than his younger self, but it takes a long time to get to the point. The overlay of political action and social conscience doesn’t feel essential, either to the characters or to the play, more a nod in the direction of liberal audience approval.
The most exciting moment is a confrontation between the Phil of a decade earlier and his sleazeball tech bro boss, where Phil gets the chance to display character and principle and anger, and the actor Mark Keegan gets to demonstrate some fire and energy. It’s a rare explosive moment and indicates some possibilities of the piece that are largely unfulfilled.
Nadine Coulson as Louise is a sympathetic, if slightly wet, presence. Keegan makes Phil a principled go-getter with life experiences that make him interesting The rest of the cast do their best with brief walk-ons, with special mention for the singing prowess of Daria Riz, and the snake-hipped sliminess of Rowland Stirling as the tech bro.
The contrivance of the encounter, the static nature of a couple in their 60s chatting on a railway platform, the very sketchy set design, all make for a long evening’s watch. There are moments, but the moments come inside a large amount of padding.
Runs until 12 April 2025.
