CityLife

Salt

Salt
Royal Exchange Studio
February 4, 2010

TWO thirty-something couples, five dinner parties over a period of nine months, a plush London basement kitchen and the cooking of real food on stage – sounds like one of Alan Ayckbourn’s typically tricky plot ideas, doesn’t it?

But it isn’t, it’s far edgier, up front, out there and in your face than Ayckbourn has ever been and it’s an absolute stunner.

It’s from actress/director/producer turned writer Fiona Peek, it’s a winner of the latest Royal Exchange-organised Bruntwood Playwriting Competition and there’s no doubting why. 

Set last year and the year before, Salt (“Men cannot know each other until they have eaten salt together” Aristotle) starts out being about middle-class debt and how to try to survive it.

Amy (Beth Cordingly) and Simon (Simon Chadwick) are the ones not in debt. They have cash and children.

Nick (Kevin Harvey) and Rachel (Esther Hall) have neither. 

Simon is a lawyer, Beth is something in an art gallery. Nick is a struggling novelist with no income, Rachel is a musician, currently teaching.

Sharp

They’ve all been friends for years, though Beth and Nick go back further than the other two and that’s part of what starts the trouble. That, and the offer by Amy and Simon, of a no-strings cash gift to their friends…

In a series of riveting exchanges, tables are turned – literally at one point – a pregnancy prompts heart-breaking anguish and conflict spirals out of control to reach a, satisfyingly, inconclusive conclusion. 

It’s exceptionally sharp in the writing; the production has been honed to perfection by director Jo Combes; it’s presented on a brilliantly-conceived, kitchen-cum-diner of a set by Ben Stones (which completely transforms the Studio); the practicalities of the meals are a pleasure to watch and drool over and the cast are simply perfect, I believed in them utterly.

A London transfer, I would hope, is a certainty.

All this and a couple of very appealing recipe ideas in the programme, what more could you want from a night out? Well, dinner probably. With all that cooking on stage, it’s a good idea to dine first or face having to make a dash for the nearest eaterie as soon as the show is over. 

The Studio at the Royal Exchange Theatre, St Ann’s Square, Manchester. Until February 20 2010. Mon to Sat, 7.30pm; mats Thurs and Sat, 2.30pm. Tickets £9.50, £6.50, concessions £4.00, students and under 26s £4.75. Box Office: 0161 833 9833 or royalexchange.co.uk/bookonline.

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