Love at NT

Nearly didn’t book for this, but glad I did – an excellent, worthwhile (as opposed to worthy, which I’d feared) piece of theatre. Really moving and a well-realised insight into how powerless you are when you don’t have any money and you are at the mercy of a Kafkaesque (or probably just incompetent) system. Given house prices in London and how cut-throat the private rental system is, even those of us lucky enough to be on a fairly decent salary can probably relate to aspects of this – horrible rented accommodation, no choice over who you share a kitchen and bathroom with, being pretty powerless against rogue landlords even if the law is technically on your side because what are you actually going to do? Some relatable little touches – for eg, everyone taking their own loo roll to the bathroom and keeping crockery in their room, awkward encounters with people you don’t really want to talk to in communal spaces.

I disagree with previous comments about the characters being passive – they are all trying to get out of the situation they are in, but they're banging their heads against a brick wall. Also disagree that the play not offering any answers/resolution is a weakness – because for most of the characters, there probably won’t be a resolution and there isn’t an easy answer. You know the old lady and her son are stuck there until she either dies or is forced into some grim home.

Lovely acting and characterisation, and a really good eg of how theatre can humanise a political topic that might be pretty remote to your average theatregoer. Felt very grateful to now be living in my own flat where I don’t need a penicillin injection after touching the surfaces.

Transferring to the Queen's Theatre, Hornchurch from 25 - 27 October

No other dates announced so far, but I'm hoping it will be a Christmas tour or maybe a return visit to the NT or REP as it was absolutely brilliant. Especially with the original cast.

It actually would have been eligible for last year's awards as it opened at the NT in December 2016 (though not completely sure if it reached 30 performances).

But I agree, it really did deserve some recognition.

I missed this in the theatre but it sounds really great.  Who is the author?