Barefoot in the Park review – Neil Simon's newlyweds in a riveting ritual
over 5 years in The guardian
Pitlochry Festival theatreJessica Hardwick and Olivier Huband are compelling as a young couple facing harsh realities once their honeymoon ends
It’s the second half of Neil Simon’s comedy when things kick off. After the sweet-tempered wisecracks before the interval, the mood has turned sour. Corie and Paul are newlyweds and their six-day marriage is faltering. In Elizabeth Newman’s production, the two of them circle each other in a ferocious dance across Adrian Rees’s set (all 1960s pastel pink, yellow and turquoise with a backdrop of West Side Story fire escapes).
With the stakes high, they are riveting to watch. As Corie, Jessica Hardwick represents the heart: fast, mercurial and emotionally intelligent. She orbits Olivier Huband’s Paul like only polar opposites can, her magnetic pull as powerful as her furious realisation that she has married a stuffed shirt. Continue reading...
Who is popular today?
