Skylight

[edjames]

Coming to Broadway this spring is the London revival of David Hare's Skylight starring Bill Nighy and Carey Mulligan.

 

For those familiar with London's National Theater Live series, this play was recently screened for audiences around the world.

 

I had an opportunity to catch it recently and I have only one word for this production....brilliant!

 

For two hours, the two leading characters argue, love, exchange insults and plumb the emotional depths as they rake over the ashes of an affair that lasted for six years.

 

Tom Sergeant is the very model of a buccaneering, free-market capitalist, who has become filthy rich with a string of restaurants. Kyra Hollis once worked alongside him and became a friend of his family as well as his lover. But when Tom’s wife discovered the relationship, Kyra walked out and took a job in a tough sink school. Now, several years later, Tom’s wife is dead and, burdened with guilt and grief, he wants to rekindle their affair.

 

13 weeks only beginning March 13. This is the one to watch and if they don't hand the Tonys to Bill and Carey there is something wrong in the world. The performances are outstanding, the script is sharp and witty, and the dialogue intense and emotional.

 

If I had any criticism at all it is perhaps that Bill Nighy might be slightly old for the role but it certainly didn't interfere with how much I enjoyed his performance. The references to London neighborhoods and outer boroughs that garner laughs for a British audience are lost for us Yanks that aren't that familiar with them. Perhaps the script will be adjusted for it's American run. All very, very minor.

 

A "must see."