Tag Archives: psychological drama

The Cocktail Party

The Print Room at the Coronet, London ***

© Marc Brenner

© Marc Brenner

Marcia Warren (Julia) in The Cocktail Party. Photo by Marc Brenner

©Marc Brenner

It’s hard to know which to applaud more: the first revival in 25 years of T S Eliot’s mysterious `psychological comedy’, The Cocktail Party or the venue. Not having visited The Print Room since its decampment to the Coronet, the venue probably takes it by a short head. The former Victorian theatre (designed by leading architect W G R Sprague of Aldwych, Wyndhams, Novello and Noel Coward theatres fame) that became a cinema and is now reverting back to a theatre is a hauntingly beautiful space – wide proscenium, semi-circular acting space, perfect sight lines though acoustically a challenge. And all around, remnants of the old decoration, scrubbed back to brick-work including the bar area. Quite magical. Continue reading