National Theatre Live: Skylight – Altrincham Garrick Playhouse

A cold and wet Sunday evening in November finds me forsaking the warmth of hearth and home in favour of a trip to Altrincham Garrick Playhouse to watch an encore screening of the 1996 Olivier award winning ‘Skylight’ by David Hare, brought to us by National Theatre Live. Hare is a playwright who is chiefly known for his deftly crafted satires examining British society in the post World War II era and ‘Skylight’ was first performed in 1996 during a particularly productive period, when new works were seemingly an annual event for the NT in their concrete castle on the South Bank.

This revival was filmed at the Wyndham’s Theatre in 2014 and features Bill Nighy and Carey Mulligan as Tom Sergeant and Kyra Hollis, ex-lovers with memories of a shared passion who have subsequently pursued very different life paths during the twelve years since their split. Sergeant has chased the Thatcherite dream to its fullest extent and is now a successful restaurateur (think Terence Conran and you won’t be too far off the mark), whilst Hollis is ‘making a difference’ teaching at a tough inner city London school. Directed by Stephen Daldry, Hare uses this domestic drama as a jumping off point to examine middle class attitudes to wealth and inequality in late 1990’s Britain, and it is fascinating to observe the way in which the attitudes from the period have morphed, developed and hardened in the intervening three decades.

Both Nighy and Mulligan give stellar performances in the central roles; Nighy is sarcastic, scathing and bitterly funny as Tom, casually pulling apart the life choices of Kyra, but displaying an underlying vulnerability and neediness that eventually reveals the motive for his decision to reconnect with his former lover. His rants are spectacularly executed across the gamut of the modern world, ranging from management consultancy to gardening (If I could abolish it, I would), accompanied by his trademark angular physicality throughout. His explanation of grief following the recent loss of his wife Alice is beautifully delineated, he draws out the guilt and shame the surviving partner feels and despite her never being seen, Alice is a presence throughout the entire performance.

Mulligan is initially more subdued, but her inner steel is gradually revealed, and she emerges as the more centred persona by the conclusion, she also achieves the notable distinction of cooking a full pasta dish live on stage whilst performing, advice to anyone watching this production is to eat before you go into the theatre! In the most powerful polemic of the second half, she acts as a cypher for the views of the writer, castigating the attitude of the modern monied middle class towards people who ‘clear the drains of society every day’ whilst choosing only to criticise and condemn. We watched these exchanges through a 2023 lense, the pandemic starkly highlighting how these differences in society have only widened since the play was written, how the Thatcherite consensus is now firmly embedded in our society and arguments of the left from this era seem to have been defeated.

The writing strays perilously close to pomposity on occasion but is undercut by the humour that is never far from the surface. Hare pricks middle class sensibilities in a different manner to Ayckbourn and is not afraid to decry his own left-wing contradictions as well as the more obvious Tory targets. The two hander is bookended by the William Beard in the role of Tom’s son, allowing early exposition and the possibility of some redemption for Kyra by the conclusion, but she has long since moved away from the world she used to inhabit.

Verdict: Stunning performances by both leading actors, this is a superbly written slice of ’90’s drama that has retained and increased its relevance.

Reviewer: Paul Wilcox

Reviewed: 26th November 2023

North West End UK Rating: