''Beginning'' is a 2017 play by David Eldridge. The first of a trilogy of plays to look at love and relationships, it is followed by Middle. A two-hander, the cast featured Justine Mitchell as Laura and

Sam Troughton Sam John Troughton (born 21 March 1977) is an English actor who has made appearances in ''Robin Hood'', ''Alien vs. Predator'' (2004), as Aleksandr Akimov in ''Chernobyl'' (2019), and as Mr. Wilder in the BBC comedy series '' The Outlaws'' (2021 ...

as Danny. Directed by

Polly Findlay Polly Findlay is a British theatre director, who won the Olivier for Best Entertainment in 2011 for Derren Brown's Svengali. She has directed seven productions for the National Theatre, and four for the Royal Shakespeare Company, where she is ...

, the play opened in the Dorfman at the National Theatre in October 2017, where it ran until 14 November 2017, enjoying a sold out run. The production transferred to the Ambassadors Theatre in the West End on 23 January 2018, following previews from 15 January. It was scheduled to conclude its limited run on 24 March. Mitchell and Troughton reprised their roles as Laura and Danny respectively. The play received favourable reviews, gaining five stars from both Dominic Cavendish in ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

'' and Fiona Mountford in ''

The Evening Standard The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format. In October 2009, after be ...

'', and four stars from

Phil Willmott Phil Willmott (born 26 January 1968) is a British director, playwright, arts journalist, teacher, and founder of London based theatre production company The Steam Industry. He was the Artistic Director of the Finborough Theatre in London's Ear ...

on the ''London Box Office news & reviews'' section. The play begins a run at the

Gate Theatre The Gate Theatre is a Theater (structure), theatre on Cavendish Row in Dublin, Ireland. It was founded in 1928. History Beginnings The Gate Theatre was founded in 1928 by Hilton Edwards and Micheál MacLiammóir with Daisy Bannard Cogley and Ge ...

, Dublin on 28 March 2019. ''Irish Times'', 27 December 2018.

Plot

Set in the aftermath of Laura's housewarming party at her new flat in

Crouch End Crouch End is an area of North London, approximately from the City of London in the western half of the borough of Haringey. It is within the Hornsey postal district (N8). It has been described by the BBC as one of "a new breed of urban villag ...

, Danny, having attended simply as the plus one of a friend, is the last remaining guest. Laura is 38, single, childless and with no immediate family; Danny is 42, divorced, living with his mother and has not seen his daughter for a number of years. The play begins with them nearly kissing and charts their journey in real time as they both seek to get back to that point. While Laura is clear from the outset that she fancies Danny and wants him to stay over, Danny is reluctant to share his true feelings. Over the course of the play, both begin to open up to one another, they dance to Bros, consume fish finger sandwiches and share their mutual loneliness and isolation in the city of London and where they are in their lives.

References

{{reflist

External links

* https://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/shows/beginning-at-the-ambassadors-theatre 2017 plays West End plays