Very Frank and almost too much Percy....
We’ve finally got to see Frank and Percy at The Other Palace Theatre in Victoria.
This convincing two-hander (Ian McKellen and Roger Allam) is a quiet delight, as two most accomplished actors play two elderly gents in Hampstead who very gently fall in love, illuminated by a clever and touching script by Ben Weatherill.
The actor’s skill is such that you don’t notice the direction – by Sean Mathias – which doesn’t mean it wasn’t there – but that the play seems wholly natural at the time, the artifice there only in retrospect.
Moving and very funny (great comic timing appearing unforced) this is a very modern play, with climate change and cancellation themes touched on in passing.
McKellen plays the one who came out in 1970, and Allam the one newly surprised by his sexuality. Both seem very real in their history and emotions.
There is pathos but no bathos here.
I’m sure that this will be revived sometime, and with other actors (the script is good enough) but catch these ones if you can for a masterclass. It's on till early December at the Other Palace.