As Good A Time As Any, The Print Room ★★★★★
Director and playwright Peter Gill premieres new play at The Print Room, exploring the comedy and profundity of everyday life.
As Good A Time As Any, The Print Room [STAR:3]
As a Time as Any, Print Room review: Culture Whisper says ★★★★★
Rather than elevated drama, epic plots and heroic struggles, Peter Gill's new play dramatises the quotidian. A chorus of eight women share their own stories on a London spring morning, and through the variety and the overlap of their cares and concerns these small facets of normal life build to create an exploration of what it means to be alive. Expect wit, warmth and moments of profundity, against Bruce McLean's artwork set.
The speakers flit between Mrs. Dalloway-style witterings about the minutiae of their lives, and flights of lyricism, representative of a wandering mind. Seemingly in their own worlds, their isolation is disrupted suddenly as the links between individuals emerge.
Peter Gill: playwright, director and stage legend
Former Associate Director of both The Royal Court and The National Theatre, Peter Gill has been directing plays since 1965. His repertoire includes Shakespeare, Chekhov and new writing. He is equally prolific as a playwright and typically directs what he writes. His early work was rooted in his working class Welsh upbringing, and no doubt feeds into the breadth of experience on display across these eight lives.
As Good A Time As Any cast
The eight strong cast is comprised of a selection of talented actresses: screen regulars Lucy Fleming (Survivors) and Roberta Taylor (Eastenders) are joined by Tessa Bell Briggs (The Christmas Candle), Indira Joshi (The Kumars), Olivia Llewellyn (The Boat that Rocked), Eileen Pollock (Far and Away), Hayley Squires (Call the Midwife) and Sharlene Whyte (The Story of Tracey Beaker).
Each woman embodies a swathe of common experience, but Lucy Fleming shines as the insecure and rather pedantic mother and wife, whose pedestrian commentary hints at regrets and revelations on a momentous scale.
There are few surprises in these characters, a comprehensive range of detailed London stereotypes, and they remain fairly true to first impression. But they capture in collectivity the leaps from mundane to profound that occur in all our heads.
Rather than elevated drama, epic plots and heroic struggles, Peter Gill's new play dramatises the quotidian. A chorus of eight women share their own stories on a London spring morning, and through the variety and the overlap of their cares and concerns these small facets of normal life build to create an exploration of what it means to be alive. Expect wit, warmth and moments of profundity, against Bruce McLean's artwork set.
The speakers flit between Mrs. Dalloway-style witterings about the minutiae of their lives, and flights of lyricism, representative of a wandering mind. Seemingly in their own worlds, their isolation is disrupted suddenly as the links between individuals emerge.
Peter Gill: playwright, director and stage legend
Former Associate Director of both The Royal Court and The National Theatre, Peter Gill has been directing plays since 1965. His repertoire includes Shakespeare, Chekhov and new writing. He is equally prolific as a playwright and typically directs what he writes. His early work was rooted in his working class Welsh upbringing, and no doubt feeds into the breadth of experience on display across these eight lives.
As Good A Time As Any cast
The eight strong cast is comprised of a selection of talented actresses: screen regulars Lucy Fleming (Survivors) and Roberta Taylor (Eastenders) are joined by Tessa Bell Briggs (The Christmas Candle), Indira Joshi (The Kumars), Olivia Llewellyn (The Boat that Rocked), Eileen Pollock (Far and Away), Hayley Squires (Call the Midwife) and Sharlene Whyte (The Story of Tracey Beaker).
Each woman embodies a swathe of common experience, but Lucy Fleming shines as the insecure and rather pedantic mother and wife, whose pedestrian commentary hints at regrets and revelations on a momentous scale.
There are few surprises in these characters, a comprehensive range of detailed London stereotypes, and they remain fairly true to first impression. But they capture in collectivity the leaps from mundane to profound that occur in all our heads.
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| What | As Good A Time As Any, The Print Room |
| Where | The Coronet Theatre, Print Room, 103 Notting Hill Gate, London, W11 3LB | MAP |
| Nearest tube | Notting Hill Gate (underground) |
| When |
27 Apr 15 – 23 May 15, 7:30 PM – 9:00 PM |
| Price | £17 - £25 |
| Website | Click here to book via The Print Room website |