Review: The Priory
Follow The JC on Twitter
Royal Court Theatre, London SW1
Arriving after two of the biggest hits of the year, Michael Wynne’s new comedy may be a victim of its venue’s previous successes. The Priory is not set in the celebrity detox clinic of the same name, but an isolated country pile that was once a monastery and is now a holiday home. It is New Year’s Eve and Kate has booked the place to draw a line under her annus horribilis during which she had a miscarriage, her boyfriend left her and her mother died. Yes, I did say a comedy.
The humour is delivered largely by Kate and her middle-class, high-achieving friends. How beastly they are to each other when their lives are revealed to be less successful then they would like them to be.
Though Wynne exposes a particular brand of middle-class cruelty, and Jeremy Herrin’s production is never less than entertaining, next to the Court’s monster hits Enron and Jerusalem, the lesson here – about how career success is not the only kind of achievement worth having – is relatively shallow. Still, for those looking for a cynical anti-seasonal play, The Priory will do very nicely.
(Tel: 020 7565 5000)
Children's books: butterflies, cakes and Horrid Henry's Jubilee moment
Butterflies represent the souls of the dead, according to the ancient Greeks.
Uneven chick lit romance but Oprah Winfrey liked it
On Page 273, one character picks up a book, “a romance novel, one of seven she has brought.
Alice Herz-Sommer: the pianist who's a true survivor
Alice Herz-Sommer is 108 years old.
Television: Prisoner of War is Homeland's darker Israeli twin
Until last week, I had never given a five-star rating to any TV or radio programme.
