What an amazing piece of theatre this was. The late great Mike Nichols, better known as a director of course, acted brilliantly, with Miranda Richardson and David de Keyser, all wonderful.
David Hare, better known as a playwright but also a talented director, did a grand job with the piece.
Wallace Shawn, perhaps better known as an actor than as a playwright, although also a very talented playwright, wrote it. Not his best known; indeed possibly not his best piece, but, an excellent play.
Here is the Theatricalia entry for this play/production.
Despite all that role rotation, it came off superbly well for us.
Janie and I recognised the unmistakable back of Wallace Shawn’s head just in front of us that night. A few years later, we chatted with Wallace Shawn at the Almeida when he turned up to see Miranda Richardson in Aunt Dan and Lemon; he waxed lyrical about how wonderful he thinks she is, seemed genuinely self-effacing about his writing and genuinely delighted that we had been inspired to seek out his plays by seeing this piece and of course My Dinner With Andre, one of my favourite films ever.
Wikipedia explains the plot – click here.
Bit early in the life of the web for on-line reviews, but I found this rather informative thing – click here.
Michael Billington was very taken with the play and production in the Guardian:
Billington on Mourner Thu, Apr 25, 1996 – 2 · The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com
Michael Coveney seemed less sure but still speaks well of it:
Coveney on Mourner Sun, Apr 28, 1996 – 65 · The Observer (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com
We were really taken with it; discussing the issues for the rest of the weekend and beyond.
