Design for Living

From September 2010

With an evening at my disposal in London prior to my Aunt's funeral I took myself off to the theatre. It did cross my mind that this might be disrespectful but I figured that it was almost certainly what my Aunt would have expected of me. Whether she would have wanted me to see a play described in the theatre's publicity as a "a tempestuous love triangle" and by one of the play's characters as a "disgusting three-sided erotic hotch-potch" is another matter. But again, it's probably all that she would have expected of me.

Anyone hoping for salacious entertainment at The Old Vic will be disappointed by Noël Coward's vaguely autobiographical comedy Design For Living. Anyone hoping for an unimpeded view of the stage from seat X28 will also be disappointed but at £15 it's a steal & with loads of leg room. Tom Burke, Lisa Dillon & Andrew Scott as Otto, Gilda & Leo sparkle as they try to resolve their three way relationship against backdrops of 1930's Paris, London & New York.

It's a hoot darling, an absolute hoot.