The Things We Do For Love, Churchill Theatre Bromley Review
The Things We Do For Love
Churchill Theatre, Bromley
9-14 June 2014
Reviewed by Emma Rogers
You won’t have heard much about this play by Alan Ayckbourn, even though it was written in 1997. You will probably have heard that Natalie Imbruglia is one of the 4 leads in this love-triangle play about 2 female friends who meet again after 11 years. One brings her new boyfriend with her, the other is an eternal spinster and the forth character is the postman who lives downstairs.
The programme rightly describes the set as the fifth member of the cast. This unusual lay-out shows the main set being the flat of Barbara, our bachelorette, and the vacant flat above which her friend Nikki and new boyfriend Hamish come to stay in. Gilbert, the slightly odd little postman, lives in the basement flat. We only see the feet half of the flat upstairs, and the ceiling of the basement flat. Weirdly, it works.
The play starts out a bit flat. It’s as if Alan Ayckbourn hasn’t written the first 40 minutes of the play as it doesn’t seem to add much to the plot line. The acting though, is superb. Natalie Imbruglia plays the slightly annoying, ditzy ‘eternal victim’ who needs looking after by the ball-breaking Barbara who is the assistant to an investment manager in the City who she is obviously harbouring a crush on. Plain-Jane Barbara mothers Nikki who also has a girl-crush on Barbara. The play really picks up when Gilbert from downstairs turns up at the door (I won’t give the storyline away) drunk. Simon Gregor plays the part very impressively. Which brings us to Hamish. Again, a flawless performance and not a word out of place. The pace of the play picks up and as the story develops, so does the comedy. The ongoing saga of the shelves in Barbara’s apartment make for a few more comical sketches!
Which brings us to Natalie Imbruglia. Yes, there is a little bit of singing in this play. No, she doesn’t come across as a soap actress. One would think that she worked hard to get away from that stereotype. Her dippy depiction of Nikki, with her insecurities and frankly alarming past, create a great character throughout the play.
Once you get into this play, it’s genuinely entertaining, and the cast make it especially so. I would happily go and see this again with the same cast in a few months. Congratulations to all!
Rating: 4.5/5
Tickets cost from £11.90 to £36.90 (plus £2.85 transaction fee).
The Thing We Do For Love is at the Churchill Theatre until 14 June 2014. For more information or to book tickets click here or call the box office on 08448 717 620.
Churchill Theatre, High Street, Bromley, BR1 1HA | 08448 717 620
