Theatre review: The Divided Laing, or, The Two Ronnies

The psychiatrist RD Laing's theories were a major influence on Equus, so I was interested in seeing a play about the man himself. Laing's work is now widely discredited but Patrick Marmion's The Divided Laing, or, The Two Ronnies takes place in 1970, when Ronnie Laing (Alan Cox) is in his prime: A minor celebrity thanks to regular appearances on BBC2, and running his own mental institution-cum-hippie commune, The Philadelphia Association. There the line between doctors and patients is hard to see: Aaron (Kevin McMonagle) is his long-standing colleague and the sensible balance to Laing's excess; also there is the intermittently American psychiatrist Joe (James Russell,) and Mary (Laura-Kate Gordon,) the resident nurse, who may or may not have got over her coprophilia. But Laing seems to identify most with David (Oscar Pearce,) a South African with a voracious appetite for drink and drugs, who has to be kept in a medically-induced coma much of the time.

Theatre review: contact.com

A sex comedy takes a couple of dark and unexpected turns at the Park Theatre, in Michael Kingsbury's contact.com. Upper middle class couple Matthew (Jason Durr) and Naomi (Tanya Franks) have been married for 15 years, and though still seemingly comfortable in their relationship, have decided to try and get the spark back. They've registered on a swingers' website, and younger, South London couple Ryan (Ralph Aiken) and Kelly (Charlie Brooks) are coming round for a nice Friday night supper followed by some partner-swapping. After some initial awkwardness the night goes well - perhaps too well, as the next morning they can't quite face the prospect of their overnight guests leaving forever. Ryan and Kelly are invited to stay another day and night - who knows, maybe the whole weekend?

Theatre review: In Lambeth

Getting naked on stage can't be many actors' favourite thing, although at least on a night as warm as tonight I guess they can feel confident they're the most comfortable people in the room. The characters, in any case, are entirely relaxed in their own skins as the poet and illustrator William Blake (Tom Mothersdale) and his wife Catherine (Melody Grove) spend an evening in their garden, sitting up a tree as he reads to her from Paradise Lost. The Blakes may be recreating the Garden of Eden but outside their walls things are less peaceful: The American Revolution has ended, the French Revolution is in full swing, and restless London crowds fear similar scenes in England. Their bogeyman is Thomas Payne (Christopher Hunter,) author of Rights of Man, who is currently fleeing an angry mob. Knowing that Blake lives nearby, and wanting to meet him, Payne escapes into the garden.