4000 Miles - Chichester Minerva Theatre

Wonder if it comes to the Old Vic later

Yes entirely different production, not headed to the OV

Absolutely adored this today. 

The plot is fairly simple, to begin with - boy rocks up at grandma's house in the middle of the night, but after the first scene which has to do the scene-setting, the play zips along quickly and although the plot perfectly suits the 95 minute run time, I could have happily spent another 90 minutes with Vera and Leo. 

Casting wise, both Eileen Atkins and Sebastian Croft suit their roles perfectly. Atkins' Vera is spiky and comes out with some cringe-inducing lines at times, but this is countered brilliantly in the scenes where Vera lets her guard down and shows her empathy lurking just under the surface. The references to Vera's deceased husband peppered through the play add to this, with Atkins injecting Vera with a sense of loss as she finds herself ageing alone. There's a running thread of Vera losing her words in the middle of sentences, and it works beautifully well, as Atkins shows the frustrations of a woman who knows she's making a good point but can't find the words to express it. 

Sebastian Croft as Leo was casting that surprised me. Having only seen him as Ben in Heartstopper, I was anxious to see him take on a much meaty role, and he delivered (and then some!) Leo is the polar opposite of Vera - where she loses her words, he doesn't stop talking, desperate to fill any silence so he doesn't have to talk about the reason for his visit. He bounces brilliantly off of Atkins, and I easily believed they were family within minutes of them appearing together. 

Without spoiling anything for those yet to see it, there is a moment in the play where Leo finally talks about the event that has brought him to Vera's apartment, and Atkins and Croft play it beautifully, he open and unflinchingly honest, she silent, letting him speak. When they embrace at the end of the scene, I found myself struggling to keep my eyes from leaking. 

There are two other actors in the piece, Nell Barlow as Bec, Leo's sort of girlfriend, and Elizabeth Chu as Amanda, a girl Leo crosses paths with. They both give admirable performances, injecting their characters with life and energy, and there's a particularly good scene between Croft and Barlow towards the end of the play that tied up their character's arcs nicely. 

The set is simple but effective - a cramped apartment stuffed with books and papers, and I thought it worked really well - Vera and Leo have a lot to talk through, and can't do it, despite being in a room stuffed full of words. 

In case it's not obvious, I absolutely loved this! Despite the unfortunate cancellation of the Old Vic, I really would not be shocked to see this get a transfer to one of the smaller houses in the coming moths. 

4.5 stars

A predictably perfect and a perfectly predictable bauble, about the value of communication and the missed opportunities of miscommunication.

It is at once utterly obvious but also absolutely revelatory.

Eileen Atkins's amusing, affecting, endearing, magnetic and memorable performance lifts this at least 2000 of the 4000 miles.

Some spoilers follow. . .

I get that the 4000 miles are a metaphor for how far apart people get when they don't say what needs to be said, and bumble on tragically in their own little bubbles, afflicted by, and afflicting, unnecessary sadness on themselves and others.

This play suggests we are all guilty of it, and it's right.

It doesn't seem to be much more than that, but it is a gorgeous little play from every angle: from the angle of a youthful Sebastian Croft naively cycling away from himself; from the angle of Atkins's older woman tragically losing people and memories, whose big heart keeps beating for connecting; from the angle of what-might-be and what-might-have-been relationships (lovely performances from Elizabeth Chu and Nell Barlow respectively, in small roles).

For me, this little bauble was a polished 4 star gem of heartwarming amusement and truthful and elegant statements of the obvious, that nonetheless need stating and restating.