This was one heck of a good evening at the theatre. A triple-bill of Pinter. I think it was Janie’s and my first visit to the Donmar Warehouse, not least judging by the detailed notes Janie wrote down while booking this, including the full address etc.
Janie paid £15 a ticket for Row C centre stalls. Not bad to say the least, even if £15 was real money in 1998. In those days, the Donmar was still regarded (and priced) as fringe. Janie noted the following timings:
- A Kind Of Alaska 7.00 to 7.50;
- Interval 25 minutes;
- The Collection 8.15 to 9.10;
- Interval 25 minutes;
- The Lover 9.30 to 10.25.
What a cast…or should I say, what casts – as this triple bill had a separate cast for the first play and then one cast for both the second and third.
A Kind of Alaska starred Penelope Wilton, Bill Nighy & Brid Brennan.
The Collection starred Harold himself (always good value as an actor as well as a playwright & director), Douglas Hodge, Lia Williams & Colin McFarlane. The latter three also starred in the Lover.
We thought all three plays excellent and the whole production top notch.
Nicholas de Jongh in The Standard only really liked the first play:
de Jongh Standard Pinters 14 May 1998, Thu Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com
Our friend Michael Billington clearly liked all three, although he did share de Jongh’s view that three Pinters in one night was possibly a Pinter too many:
Billington Guardian Pinters 14 May 1998, Thu The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com
Charles Spencer also deemed three to be one too many, but unlike de Jongh, Spencer didn’t like the first and did like the other two:
Spencer Telegraph Pinters 15 May 1998, Fri The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com
Oh well. We were happy.