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Prayers and thoughts: The Inseparables @Finboroughtheatre

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The Inseparables brings Simone de Beauvoir’s posthumously published novel to life. It traces a lifelong friendship between Sylve and Andrée, two unconventional girls who grew up in a stifling world where being a woman meant getting married or entering a convent. With a quick pace and engaging performances from the two leads, it is a journey back into the 20th century that captures two unconventional women trapped in a conventional world that will have you reflecting on how much or little things have moved on in the last century. It’s currently playing at the Finborough Theatre .  We’re introduced to Sylve praying for her country, France, to be saved from the war and indoctrinated into the world of faith and obedience. But too smart for all that, her life was full of detached guilt and boredom. But when she meets Andrée, a new arrival at her school, she is struck by how different she is from everyone else. She was burned in a fire and had a passion for life that nobody else she knew...

When in Rome: For Reasons That Remain Unclear @KingsHeadThtr

A young screenwriter and an older priest walk into a hotel room in Rome. You just know it isn’t going to end well. But part of the suspense in For Reasons That Remain Unclear is you are never certain where things are heading. Mart Crowley’s sexually charged piece keeps you guessing. It’s having its UK premiere at The Kings Head Theatre as part of its Queer Season of theatre.

Patrick (Simon Haines) is working for Warner Brothers in Rome living out of a fabulous hotel. He meets Conrad (Corey Petersen) on the street and after a long lunch they head back to Patrick’s hotel. What then ensues is a series of mind games as faith, sexuality and secrets are explored. Conversations about the trivial meander into the personal. Then it builds into something darker.

It’s probably every gay priest’s fantasy to get picked up off the street by someone from Hollywood. But if you get past that it’s a rewarding piece, particularly given the performances. 

Haines and Petersen are terrific. They hold your attention throughout this intense and intimate show. Haine’s only has to roll up a sleeve before Petersen is nervously reaching for another cigarette. 

Only when room service arrives in the form of a sly performance by Daniele Alan-Carter is there any comic relief. 

Amanda Mascarenhas’s design makes inspired use of the space with it’s play on light from the Piazza De Spagna in 1990’s Rome. There’s a balcony, a corridor leading to a bathroom and then on what seems like a high altar is the bed. This is play that gives thanks to the higher things in life such as glorious linen sheets. 

Directed by Jessica Lazar, For Reasons That Remain Unclear is at the Kings Head Theatre until 18 August.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Photos by Alex Brenner

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