Henri and Sonia are putting their son to bed when an unexpected knock at the door throws them into disarray. Hubert and Ines have arrived for dinner, a day earlier than expected... As the evening degenerates, Yasmina Reza blends cruel observations with high comedy in an hilarious and poignant examination of our most personal intimacies and private longings.

The Cast.

Sonia - Charlotte Foster

Henri - Ian Miller

Ines - Sue Clatworthy

Hubert - Peter Simmons

Arnaud - George and Issy Root

Director - Gordon Cummings

A review by Alasdair Gold

'Three is the Magic Number '

With a storm raging outside, the atmosphere at Clavering Players' Life x 3 at the village hall was hardly any calmer. The production of Yasmina Reza's insight into three versions of one awful night was expertly delivered by the cast of four. Their performances perfectly captured the array of society's little foibles and idiosyncrasies that the writer has so wittily observed.
The three versions showed how one disastrous evening could claim different victims, depending on how each character reacted to bad news or insufferable company.
 
The couples, Henri and Sonia, played by Ian Miller and Charlotte Foster, and Hubert and Ines played by Peter Simmons and Sue Clatworthy, were all displayed from different angles and, although they slipped into caricatures at times, were delightfully distasteful. Ian Miller probably had the most fun role to get his teeth into as Henri, who was, in turn, pathetic, then angry and lastly cool, calm and collected after receiving bad news from gloating Hubert.  As a side note, Sue Clatworthy put in an alarmingly realistic portrayal of a drunken wife in the second night. Let's hope it was only apple juice in those wine bottles. Peter Simmons was a suitably sleezy and pompous Hubert, while Charlotte Foster switched effortlessly from irritated wife to seemingly supportive, yet unfaithful spouse.
 
A final irony that I am sure Reza would have appreciated is that no matter how witty or insightful an amateur play can be or even if the watching audience realise that its them being represented on the stage, they'll always find swearing delightfully funny. Like guaffawing at grown men getting smacked in the nether regions, one of life's little foibles, methinks.