Ashes to Ashes

Although the producers advertised that the play will last approximately 1 hour, it only lasts 50 minutes. Considering you get a lot of pauses in this play there is probably only about 35 minutes of dialogue.

What is the play about? Don't ask me, I'm still trying to work it out! There are two characters, one a woman called Rebecca, played by Lindsay Duncan and a man who I think is her husband called Devlin, played by Stephen Rea. They are both sitting in chairs in what appears to be their living room. Rebecca is telling the story of how her lover miss- treated her. The lover had apparently grabbed her around the throat and made her kiss his clenched fist. Devlin was asking her questions about the incident which Rebbacca avoided answering. Then she went on to a story about her lover snatching babies from mothers. What all this means and was trying to say I have no idea, neither did my two friends who were with me.

I did feel somewhat cheated, first by paying 10 pounds for a 50 minutes drama and then a play that quite frankly I find hard to call drama. If this was someone's first play they had ever seen in the theatre, I'm sure they would never go again. I personally found this play to be a complete waste of time, no matter how great a reputation Pinter may have.

Unless you're a great Pinter fan I wouldn't go and see this if I was you. It's not worth the money or 50 minutes of your time.

(Darren Dalglish)