Review: Charming evening with "two perfectly cast actors" on the Eastbourne stage

REVIEW BY Mary Gray
AN HOUR AND A HALF LATE Griff Rhys Jones (Peter) and Janie Dee (Laura) © Marc BrennerAN HOUR AND A HALF LATE Griff Rhys Jones (Peter) and Janie Dee (Laura) © Marc Brenner
AN HOUR AND A HALF LATE Griff Rhys Jones (Peter) and Janie Dee (Laura) © Marc Brenner

AN HOUR AND A HALF LATE, Devonshire Park Theatre, Eastbourne, from Monday March 7 to Saturday March 12, 2022

As someone who cannot bear to witness other people’s rows, my biggest fear when I entered the lovely Devonshire Park Theatre last evening, for the first time in nearly two years, was that “An Hour and a Half Late” was going to be a reincarnation of “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf”. How wrong can you be?

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An Hour and a Half Late is charming, with a simple plot, and a skilful script that supports two perfectly cast actors. The affectionate rapport between Griff Rhys Jones and Janie Dee provides authenticity to their roles.

Read our interview with Janie Dee

The play opens with Peter waiting patiently for Laura to go out to dinner with friends. We never meet the friends, Roger, and Christine but we get to know them quite well through the dialogue that ensues. The audience is given a picture of Peter and Laura’s lives; how they met, their youth, their aspirations and motivations as well as their sex life. All in a very moderate and tasteful manner! There are no shocks for the audience and only appropriate and timely swearing.

Laura is suffering from empty nest syndrome. Peter is looking forward to retirement and so the audience is treated to a charming, funny, sweet dialogue with lows and some highs but never a dull moment. It could be hard to sympathise with the characters, as on the surface they suffer with an abundance of privilege, which the script acknowledges. However, as the play develops both Peter and Laura reveal their insecurities for the kind amusement of the audience.

The biggest laugh comes from a dig at the South Coast and its elderly population. Is that just delivered in Eastbourne (and perhaps Bournemouth)? In which case it is inspired, as the audience loves it.

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And yes, without giving too much away, they do leave to go for dinner “An Hour and a Half Late”

Mary Gray

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