Same Time, Next Year
February 25-26
South Hill Park
01344 484123
www.southhillpark.org.uk
“Russia’s got the bomb, we could all be dead tomorrow” is a funny way of thinking that having an affair is acceptable.
It was an ironic line in the production of Same Time, Next Year at The Wilde Theatre in South Hill Park .
There are so many similarities between the world today and when this play was written in the 1970s. One of the world’s most widely staged plays, it was originally produced on Broadway in 1975.
It follows Doris and George who meet in 1951, a chance encounter in a Californian hotel that leads to a passionate one-night stand.
Both are married to other people, but, soon aware that this might be the start of something, they promise to meet 12 months later.
So begins a romantic love affair that lasts 25 years.
The soundtrack of American hits of the various decades made your foot tap and audiences can (at last) sing along at times.
The play charts their lives through the ups and downs of parenthood, career highs and lows as well as the shifting fashions and morals of the passing decades.
Bek Palmers’ costume design was en pointe and you couldn’t wait to see what the character Doris wore next, and her next hairstyle.
The play’s author, Bernard Slade paints a bittersweet, nostalgic and funny portrait of two likeable protagonists who find themselves in the most unusual of long-term relationships.
London Classic Theatre produced the new UK tour of the play.
Michael Cabot directs Kieran Buckeridge (George) and Sarah Kempton (Doris). They both performed their roles with complete conviction, with some difficult scenes to portray.
Kieran was particularity stand out in act two for me.
The play made me laugh.
I imagine there was some heated debate between partners and friends in the audience, about what they feel is acceptable and unacceptable within a relationship and whether you can be truly in love with more than one person at a time?
It’s the sort of question you would get in the game “Cards Against Humanity”
This was such an interesting, unique play following these two loveable characters through this experience together over 25 years.
Seeing how they each develop as people, through a really interesting time in history, seeing how they come together and drift apart at times, watching them learn about each other and themselves in these little five-yearly pockets. It’s such an interesting premise for a story.
And, of course, it was a lot of fun.
It’s genuinely brilliantly written with a great comedic pace and rhythm that’ll keep you laughing while watching George and Doris fall in love.
You’ll leave the theatre feeling like you shared the past 25 years with a couple of your best friends.
The play is at the Wilde Theatre again tonight, and is touring until April. For more on the national tour, log on to: http://londonclassictheatre.co.uk
Splattyoo, Reading’s honest reviewer.
