by Kevin Elyot
Park Theatre London July – August 2017
It has that same mischievous humour as My Night with Reg and a potent mix of sorrow and anger about wasted lives. A bittersweet mix of wit and compassion. Sarah Hemming, Financial Times
Funny and satisfying. Its twists keep playing in your head long after it’s over. Dominic Maxwell, The Times
Elyot writes well about the dark secrets of family life. The acting is on the money. A salutary reminder that, however relaxed the law, many people still lead lives of quiet, sexual desperation. Michael Billington, Guardian
The first scene is a gem of queasy comic suggestiveness. Bryony Hannah radiates just the right degree of well-bred frustration and yearning. Steeped in Elyot’s signature qualities – the knowing, slightly catty humour; the ardent wounded lyricism; the sense of injuries echoing down the years. Paul Taylor, Independent
Hugh Ross and Philip Bretherton offer a masterclass of understated drama. Fans of Elyot should be pleased he left this one last gift. Emily Jupp, WhatsOnStage
Set on summer evenings in the 1960s and the present day, Twilight Song traces one family’s hidden liaisons over half a century.
2017. Barry is single, middle-aged and gay. He’s lived in North London with his mother Isabella for over fifty years. Their relationship is fraught yet they cannot live apart.
1967. Barry starting school, Isabella pregnant again and parliament passing a law of liberation.
A mysterious stranger turns up in their past and their present – could he be the missing piece of the jigsaw they’ve both been yearning for?
Hilarious, heartbreaking and full of surprises, Kevin Elyot’s evocative final play proves how powerful our past can be in the present.
Cast Philip Bretherton, Adam Garcia, Bryony Hannah, Paul Higgins, Hugh Ross
Designer James Cotterill
Lighting Tim Lutkin
Music & Sound Ben & Max Ringham
Producers David Sloan & Denise Silvey