Beginning - Royal Exchange Theatre Review

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Thu 16 Feb 2023 - Sat 11 Mar 2023

Over a kitchen table littered with empty and abandoned glasses, Danny (Gerard Kearns) and Laura (Erin Shanagher) awkwardly circle each other. Thus begins a post-housewarming party session of negotiation, cross-questioning, confessions and faltering seduction.



David Eldridge’s play for two actors is set in 2015 and - with a nod to the Royal Exchange's locality - in West Didsbury. It was first performed at London’s National Theatre in 2017, set in Crouch End.

The greatest strength of the script is in the way it keeps you guessing - not just in the will-they-won’t-they set-up but also about the underlying agendas and motives of Danny and Laura.

Is Danny stepping back from Laura’s advances because he is too guileless and honest for modern sexual politics? Is he only mildly attracted to Laura or is he afraid of opening up old wounds and exposing his vulnerabilities?

The erotic tension is ratcheted up before it deflates again, usually as a result of Danny’s avoidance tactics and homely allusions. This constant inching towards and then pulling back from physical congress results in both dramatic tension and a lot of laughs.

Come and kiss me you lemon, demands an exasperated Laura. Let’s just have a bit of a tidy up first, replies Danny, clutching at excuses to defer again.

There are echoes, in the power-play between Laura and Danny, of August Strindberg’s Miss Julie, which was performed at the Royal Exchange in 2012, adapted by David Eldridge.

The gradual feed of personal revelations also made the play compelling for most of its one hour and fifty minutes, without an interval. I did feel though that it lost some energy towards the end. It was as if David Eldridge found it hard to bring the carefully wrought scenario he’d constructed to a conclusion. He went past some exit points, which would have left us with more questions but also maintained our investment and concern for the characters beyond the final scene.



Like any party - or more precisely after-party - it can be hard to find the right moment to leave. But equally, if you made an early departure, as a couple of people on my row did, you would have missed a lot of quality drama.

Beginning runs until 11 March.
Royal Exchange website

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