The Leisure Society, Trafalgar Studios 2 - theatre review

She plays Paula, free-spirited 21 year old fuck buddy of Mark (swaggering John Schwab), the recently divorced friend of Peter (Ed Stoppard – a bit too loud for this small space) and his wife Mary (an acerbic Melanie Gray) who, somewhat bizarrely, have invited him over for dinner to tell him they don’t want to see him anymore.  But with their own relationship definitely in need of some spicing up – they can’t give up the booze and fags, but their unfulfilling sex life is virtually non-existent - things don’t go according to plan when the youthfully seductive Paula proves happy to have a threesome.

Far from the perfect couple they present to the world, these well-heeled thirty-somethings (who ignore the escalating cries of their young son issuing from the child monitor but plan to adopt a little Chinese girl – so much cuter) are self-indulgent, self-obsessed and really not very nice. Like this rather dated 2003 satire, they look stylish, but the appeal is all on the surface.

Trafalgar Studios 2
Whitehall, SW1A 2DY
Tube: Charing Cross
Until 31st March
£26.50- £32.50
atgtickets.com/trafalgarstudios

- Louise Kingsley

Photo: Lydia Goldblatt