I'm on the record as not being as convinced of Noël Coward's enduring genius as so
many people seem to be, but that doesn't mean I haven't had some decent evenings at
his plays - even, as it turns out, at one so little-regarded that it hasn't been
seen on a London stage since its premiere in 1927.
Home Chat is a light
comedy about a lucky escape with an unexpected downside, and one surprisingly
sympathetic to a woman with a mind of her own (there
is the usual suggestion
that women need a slap now and then to keep them in line because it's still Noël
Coward and he's awful that way, but at least it's not done as a gag.) Martin Parr's
production opens dramatically (thanks to lighting by Christopher Nairne and sound
design by Pete Malkin) with a fatal train crash in France. One sleeper carriage is
particularly wrecked, so much so that the miraculous escape of two English
passengers makes the papers. But as Janet Ebony (Zoë Waites) was sharing the
compartment with Peter (Richard Dempsey,) her friend since childhood but definitely
not her husband, tongues quickly start to wag back home.
