REVIEW: BETTER YESTERDAY at Bread and Roses Theatre 16th – 20th April

‘Faultless dark comedy about a celebrity couple in a tempestuous relationship who are hounded by the paparazzi.’ ★★★★★ 

This dark comedy, set in 1977, is about a celebrity couple in a tempestuous relationship, passionately in love with each other and equally passionately at loggerheads. Similar to Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor who were married and divorced twice our couple, now reunited after a separation are hounded by the paparazzi who seem as interested in sticking their noses into the couple’s private life as they are with their acting careers. Consequently, they struggle to maintain their marriage and their sanity.

Playing the leads in Macbeth, they return home from the theatre after the night’s performance. Tensions flare on this particular night because of an on-stage incident. Was the incident part of the play and an accident or is Harold (Dominic Farrow) venting his personal anger with Sylvia (Pip Lang) and disguising it? Indeed, Harold appears to be hiding a lot, but his body language betrays the fact that he is trying to disguise his nervousness about something.

This voyeuristic peep into the hell that happens once the curtain comes down shows how this married couple has devised ways of coping with the confusion of real life, their on-stage personas, the meddling of the paparazzi and the secrets, lies and misunderstandings that can result. Their game of remembering the words to the plays they were once in together or like Macbeth, Harold fantasizing about killing does nothing to help them get over the deaths and infidelities that happen. As the line between their on-stage characters and their real lives is continually confused, both feel the need to escape work and re-find their true selves. 

Both say they want to go outside but are they talking about the house, their marriage, or their present predicament? They keep using the words of those plays to express what they find hard to say but it doesn’t seem to work anymore. Dominic Farrow and Pip Lang are excellent at transporting us from Harold and Sylvia’s playful comedic games through the turmoil of their recent past and into the tragedy that is their inevitable future.

They say if you mention a gun in a play someone must get shot and like that gun the telephone rings, but Harold immediately hangs up twice. Eventually the gun goes off and we find out the truth behind the repetition of Harold’s infidelities and the real reason why he sometimes goes AWOL. Sensationalizing domestic turmoil may be titillating because the subjects are famous, but no matter how far removed the stars are from our everyday lives, we have to remember that they are still real people with real people’s problems. This is a brilliantly written play that shows many aspects of life in a relationship.

The writing, acting and directing are faultless and all those involved must be highly commended.

Written and directed by Anna Stephen

Produced by Honest Fool Productions

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