In The Vale Of Health - four plays by Simon Gray

Hampstead Downstairs presents Japes / Michael / Japes Too / Missing Dates as part of the Simon Gray repertoire 'In The Vale Of Health', at the Hampstead Theatre Downstairs, an 80-seat studio space under the main house at Hampstead Theatre, in north London, from 20 March to 17 May 2014.

All four plays are directed by Tamara Harvey, with Michael, Japes Too and Missing Dates receiving their premieres. While writer Simon Gray was watching rehearsals of Japes, during a West End run in 2001, he realised the characters might have made different choices and arrived at a different outcome. So he went on to write Michael, Japes Too and Missing Dates in order to put the characters to rest.

The plays tell a different story with opposite conclusions, and share same characters, in the same situation.

The accidental death of their parents when Michael and Jason (Japes) were in their teens made them as close as brothers can be: the family home they inherited remains unchanged, part playground, part shrine. But their lives change forever when Michael falls in love with Anita... and so does Japes... and a passionate triangle develops.

Originally published on

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