This Amy Herzog play was scheduled to run at the Old Vic in London in the spring of 2020 with Dame Eileen Atkins and Hollywood rising star Timothee Chalamet directed by Matthew Warchus. Postponed due to Covid, they hoped to reschedule it, but that was eventually abandoned last year. The Old Vic’s loss proves to be Chichester’s gain, with Richard Eyre taking over as director, young British actor Sebastian Croft replacing Chalamet and the Minerva Theatre providing a more intimate space.
It’s set in the Greenwich Village apartment of Vera, early 90’s, a widow with a Bohemian past and communist sympathies. Her grandson Leo has cycled from Seattle, though perhaps more to see his girlfriend Bec than his grandma, for just a few days in NYC, though it becomes a few weeks. Vera is eccentric and cantankerous, her grandson a new age hippie, but they develop a mutually dependent relationship for the duration of Leo’s stay. We meet Bec briefly on a couple of occasions, and also Amanda, who Leo meets in New York. Vera’s offstage neighbour is the fifth character.
It doesn’t really go anywhere, but I enjoyed the ride, a meeting of two generations many years apart. There’s an authenticity to the characters (Vera is very much based on Herzog’s own grandmother) and the dialogue is sharp and witty. It’s a joy watching Atkins give a masterclass in characterisation and timing, surrounded by three young actors who I suspect will look back on this as important in developing their craft. Croft (who has come a long way since I saw him eight years ago as Adrian Mole in Leicester!) is outstanding as Leo. Peter McKintosh’s detailed design is terrific, and the play really does benefit from the intimacy of a space one-third the size of the Old Vic.
A good start to Chichester 2023, which I paired with Noel Coward’s The Vortex, written a century before. More of that later…..
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