Go see…

Its a real treat going to the theatre on a Monday night when really you feel that you should be at home doing something dull… my very unglamorous and domestic to-do list was thrown out of the window without a second thought the moment I was presented with two tickets to go and see Noel Coward’s play Design for Living at the Old Vic.

I don’t normally review plays or performances I have seen but this play really is worth shouting about. The play itself is fast paced, funny, brilliant, pretentious… and performed with absolutely immaculate timing, polish and pitch. It undulates from intimate, quiet conversation to a crashing crescendo of explosive outrage and protestation and back again with the seemingly endless versatility of the cast being stretched to and fro within the scenes. Seldom did I look round at my fellow theatregoers (who knew the stalls at the Old Vic were so glamorous!) as I was literally swept along by the ebb and flow of the performance.

It is such an old cliche but if you spend £50 on any one ticket this year make it to go and see this play. It is risque, funny, brilliantly acted and above all entertaining. One thing I really did like about the Old Vic was nicely spaced rows, allowing one sufficient leg room to not feel like a battery chicken (Royal Opera House take note!) in the stalls,  and the best thing is that you are allowed to take your alcoholic beverage (in this case a Plymouth Gin and tonic) with you to your seat. Mr Coward would certainly have taken his glass of fizz with him I have no doubt!

Design for Living by Noel Coward.
www.oldvictheatre.com