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An awesome and ridiculous film that leaves you thrilled beyond the point of your natural endurance
2012
Theatre
The show has suddenly become quite wonderful, and the galvanising factor is the terrific stage debut of Melanie C
Blood Brothers
Music
The British pop music industry may be eating itself but if Muse are the pick of what it can offer the world in 2010 then British music is in rude health indeed
Muse
I was smitten by both Gilberts enormous luxuriant moustache and the intelligence and nuance of this highly entertaining play
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Always been a fan but never seen them live. I was ecstatic to be part of this epic event. WOW!
London,
Nicholas de Jongh's rating
Reader rating
Dir: Jamie Lloyd.
Cast: James McAvoy, Nigel Harman, Lyndsey Marshall
Description: James McAvoy and Nigel Harman star in Richard Greenberg¿s drama exploring how different generations interpret events in varying ways. Directed by Jamie Lloyd.
Trains: Tube: Piccadilly Circus 
Phone: 0870890 1101
Website: www.nimaxtheatres.com
The pulling-power of movie stars may still keep fragile plays buoyant in the turbulent waters of the West End, where a fleet of musicals are riding out the economic storms. But Richard Greenberg’s Three Days Of Rain, which flourished in the studio-theatre intimacy of the Donmar in 1999, needs more than the evident charisma, emotional power and pathos of James McAvoy, to maintain such an insubstantial, under-developed family drama.
With a plot that depends upon an old diary hidden under a mattress, a revelation in a will and a man’s discovery of his girl in bed with another man, Three Days Of Rain strikes old-fashioned and clichéd notes. Greenberg does, though, dream up a psychologically nuanced, challenging theatrical device on which the play depends.
The first act, in Jamie Lloyd’s rather muted production, is set in Soutra Gilmour’s empty, grey-all-over Manhattan loft space, which breathes an air of gloomy dilapidation. Its big windows are all clouded over. A dusty old bed and architect’s drawing easel remain.
Here McAvoy’s Walker, effervescent but weighed down by desolation and instability, takes a short solo voyage into their family’s disturbed past, until interrupted by his bland sister Nan (Lyndsey Marshal). She has arrived for the reading of the will of their father, an architect called Ned whose famous reputation depended upon his partnership with Theo. How convenient, then, that Walker should discover his father’s potentially revealing diary, whose mundane reference to three days of rain will ultimately be deciphered. When brother and sister are joined by Theo’s son, their actor-friend Pip, beautifully played by Nigel Harman with lashings of charm and self-deprecating humour, a mood of reminiscence and mutual affection is struck and over- protracted. A casual remark then suggests what unrequited sexual longings have dashed Walker’s life.
By tracking back to 1960, with the trio playing their parents, Greenberg offers provocative ammunition for a version of the Freudian theory that our lives, are predicated upon the personalities and relationships of our parents.
It is of course quite a seductive notion and Greenberg interestingly implies Walker’s sexuality and hankering for Pip is prefigured in his father’s complex relations with Theo, whose woman and reputation he guiltily acquires.
Walker’s chronic despair mirrors that of his parent’s whose marriage was soured by unhappiness and disappointment. What a gift for pathos James McAvoy has! In a dramatic and impressive display of versatility he takes the role of his introverted father, Ned, whose stammering incommodes a nice wit and reduces him to painful incoherence, when emotionally clashing with Harman’s dynamic Theo.
Marshal, seizing her chances, puts on a comic, impressive show as the randy, heavy-drinking southern belle Lina who could have walked out of Scott Fitzgerald or Tennessee Williams.
When she deserts her lover, Theo, for Ned, the die is cast is for them and their future. Yet Pip, Theo and Nan are too faintly characterised, with their dilemmas left unresolved, for this magnificently acted play to engage or emerge as coloured more than a paler shade of grey.
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
Magnificent performance, enjoyed it thoroughly......James McAvoy stole the show entirely!!!
- Farah, London, UK
This is an otherwise pale play that needs great strength of acting to pull it through. Harman's portrayal of Theo and Pip is basically the same for the two characters and Marshall's portrayal of Nan and Lila is stilted and forced respectively. The saving grace for the play, which I saw on the Wednesday before Holy Thursday, is McAvoy's talent, vitality and sheer excellence in playing two characters as two characters! If you are in London for a few days, I would recommend unabashedly a viewing of this play solely on the magnificence of McAvoy, who kept the audience in rapt attention from the first flash of a torchlight, through to sketching plans in intermission to completely them. Good form, McAvoy.
- Nievia, Trinidad, West Indies
Without a doubt the best play I’ve seen in years – I absolutely loved it!
Brilliantly constructed gripping family drama, with an intriguing, thought-provoking and very touching story. It's smart and witty, full of brilliant observations, intelligent jokes and engaging characters. It’d be worth seeing just for the utterly gripping plot and atmospheric direction, but the stand-out performance from all three actors make it truly exceptional. Nigel Harman’s comic talent makes his scenes in the first act just laugh-out-loud hilarious, with the discussion on Oedipus being my personal favourite.
But the top praise must go to James McAvoy who is just perfect, delivering equally convincing, engaging and nuanced performance in two completely different roles – he’s superb as over-the-top hectic Walker and gets even better as sensitive and shy Ned. You literally can’t take your eyes off the stage.
Highly recommended!! In fact I’m booking tickets to see it again… yes, it’s that good!
- Wioletta, London, England
This was a fabulous and absorbing play. It is a great compliment in my view to say that there was no "star" performance as each of the actors delivered such a strong performance. I would strongly recommend it.
- Simon, London, England
We saw this performance on the night after press night, and thoroughly enjoyed it. The play did take a while to warm up, but once into their stride all three actors gave sterling, mesmeric performances. It is quite a difficult play to stage but we felt ( aged from fifteen to fifty!) that it was a moving, involving and ultimately satisfying night out at the theatre. It's hard to single anyone out as all three actors were equally excellent - at the end James McAvoy mouthed ' thank you' to the audience as three curtain calls were given. The only slight disappointment we felt ( and this is no fault of the actors) was that the ending was too sudden, we didn't feel all the issues had been resolved. But we cannot recommend this play too highly - it is stunningly acted with much humour, offers intensely thought-provoking sentiments and is superbly staged. With time, the performances can only deepen as the play 'settles'. Do not be put off by one bad review - it is absolutely no reflection on a grown-up, well acted and hugely satisfying night out.
- Diana, Scotland
I saw this production on press night and I loved it. It mystifies me that reviewers, with nothing exceptional to write or offer, feel the need to 'pick a favourite actor' when watching a three hander. James McAvoy, Lyndsey Marshall and Nigel Harman were uniformley great. Furthermore, this play is well directed, designed (in particular Ben and Max Ringhams work on sound) and was delivered with with such great nuance and feeling that, come the senond act, you could hear a pin drop. Go see it!
- Mike Torres, Loondon, England
