Chas and Stella are getting married and are obviously very much in love. There's nothing unusual about that, except that the happy couple are in their 60s and the groom has spent 50 of the last 60 years in a mental hospital. Adjusting to married life is going to be difficult.
So it proves in Stephanie McKnight's play, which provides the antidote to in-your-face theatre. As in life, the over-60s tend not to be very visible on our stages, so McKnight's drama is a rarity. When I tell you that the over-60s spend quite a lot of time with their clothes off, or "in the nuddy", as Stella would put it, you will realise quite how unusual this play is.
Together in their little flat after the wedding, Chas and Stella pretend they are Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers on a 1930s cruise liner, but, for Chas, romance gives way to panic as bedtime approaches. Soon he is sleeping under the kitchen table and Stella thinks the marriage might never be consummated. Throughout all that follows the couple never lose their affection for each other, but sometimes love just can't conquer all, particularly when you are as hurt and damaged as Chas.
This is a lovely little play. It provides one of those evenings in the theatre when you suddenly realise you've been watching what is happening on stage with a big smile on your face. Even so, it doesn't entirely work. It might be because the production is rather slack, because we find out a lot about Chas while Stella remains an enigma, or because McKnight's freewheeling style often means she takes a long time to make her point. Probably it is a combination of both these things. You wouldn't want this play to lose any of its big heart, but it needs to be more economical, more pointed.
However, it is very lovingly acted, with Ric Morgan and Caroline John giving strong, brave performances in the central roles, and McKnight proves she is a writer of considerable, if still unfulfilled potential.
Until June 16. Box office: 020-7620 3494.
