I rated this two-hander with Tim Pigott-Smith & Victoria Hamilton as superb at the time, so it must have been quite special.
I cannot find much about it on the web, but this page from the James Saunders website helps, with a good description of the piece and some nice quotes from the notices. If anything ever happens to that site, I have scraped the page to here.
So this turned out to be James Saunders’ last play and I think the only one of his that was premiered in the new Orange Tree Theatre by Sam Walters (several of the earlier ones had premiered above the pub).
It must have been this play that made me seek out James Saunders’ work subsequently, but in truth his earlier work, especially the absurdist pieces, were far less to my taste than this gripping, psychological two-hander.
Michael Billington reviewed it and really liked it. I say that with some surprise, as for some reason the James Saunders’ website doesn’t have a quote from Billington.
Billington on Retreat Wed, May 17, 1995 – 33 · The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com
I’m so glad Janie and I saw this. I wonder whether it is due a revival; I’d need to re-read it but I sense it is in many ways timeless.