ONE DAY WHEN WE WERE YOUNG: A TALE OF LOVE AND LOSS THAT LACKS IMPACT

By Madeleine Anderson | Press Invite

One Day When We Were Young follows the relationship of Leonard (Barney White) and Violet (Cassie Bradley) before and after the second world war. It comes from Tony-Award nominated writer Nick Payne, whose recent work includes We Live in Time and Wanderlust.

The play, originally staged in 2011, starts in a plain hotel room in Bath in 1942, where the couple are spending their final night together before Leonard goes to fight in the war. Whilst desperate to make the most of their final moments alone – but also desperate not to accept this finality – the play begins with a series of comic but tense mini conversations about how Leonard can’t get to sleep, and why this is.

Both performances are strong, with each actor getting the right balance of funny and afraid, but a weak script sees their interactions feel like awkward incompatibility, rather than anxiety about losing each other, and makes the romance overall less convincing.

In the closing moments of the hotel scenes, Leonard asks Violet to marry him, or to run away with him, Violet explains that Bath is her home, but promises that she ‘will wait’ for him.

The hotel exchanges are cut short when a bomb hits the nearby area, with the two actors manically scurrying around the room to find a place to hide – and to rearrange the furniture for the following scene, a clever way to shift the staging.

The next bit of the play is set years later, with the couple meeting in a park during winter. Both actors wore more formal clothes, with Violet revealing that she was now married with two children, and Leonard now being alone.

Again the pacing and tone of the script jarred against what seemed meant to be a heartfelt and conflicting meeting with the former-couple. Rather than shyness or emotional uncertainty, the script made the couple again seem inevitably incompatible, rather than as a result of their changed circumstances.

 A brief kiss between the pair and some tears from Violet are the only convincing sign that feelings still exist between the pair who otherwise seem incompatible, and even more so since the war.

The final third of the play is set in the early 2000s, with the now elderly actors meeting in Leonard’s apartment. We learn that Violet is now a published author, whilst Leonard’s career goes unmentioned. What we see is that Leonard is sick, and he asked Violet to come and visit. Once again, this large section of the play is filled by miscommunication, unspoken feelings and the silent acknowledgement that time has once again passed.

A touching moment takes place before the play ends, with Leonard’s lights cutting out and the pair using sparklers as a source of light. I was moved to see the now elderly couple taken back to a simple image of youthful pleasure with their sparklers in hand, a nod to a past they could have had – without war.

One Day When We Were Young is showing at Park Theatre until Saturday 22 March.

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Photo Credit: Danny Kaan