While in London (I will shut up about it eventually), I went to see Three Days of Rain in the Apollo Theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue. I could try to explain the plot to you but it’s a lot easier to cut and paste the summary from the official website. Laziness, you are my mistress.
A year has passed since the death of famous architect Ned Janeway. His legacy is an iconic, internationally renowned 1960’s New York House designed with his late business partner Theo. Now their children must reunite to settle the estate and determine the future of the house. Walker (James McAvoy) and his sister Nan (Lyndsey Marshal) are joined by Theo’s son Pip (Nigel Harman) in the Manhattan loft where their fathers lived and worked. But the discovery of a journal and the brief entry, “three days of rain”, begins a surprising story the children could never have imagined …..”
While being a slight fangirl of James McAvoy (I’ve had a thing for him ever since he screwed his real life wife against the drawers on Shameless and I adore him in Atonement), my favourite character in the play was “Pip” – Nigel Harman’s first act turn as the son of the business partner. His tone and accent were hilarious, but even though he was the one Walker made fun of for being happy and nice all the time, he really had shit figured out. I just loved his outburst towards the end of the first act, where he reveals all the secrets and lets Walker in on some home truths.
Pip: I mean, why do you get to be the one who judges things when you’re having the stupidest life of anybody? I’m sick of it, Walker. You’re the one who’s done the bad thing, you’re the one who ran off like a maniac and left us to go bonkers worrying about you. I’ve been good, Nan’s been good, you’ve been bad. Okay, that’s the morality of the situation. So you don’t get to make the laws; that’s the upshot.
Walker: I wish -
Pip: No, I’m talking now, and it’s a very weird sensation. Look, Walker, look – it’s just you can’t be the only personality in the room anymore. You cannot just change the temperature of every circumstance by this kind of tyrannical psychosocial, you know, fiat – oh, look, I know you think I’m an idiot-
(C) Richard Greenberg, 1997
And, that’s all of his rant Google Books will let me preview. But it gives a good idea of the flowing, quick paced dialogue. It reminded me of early The West Wing episodes, with Aaron Sorkins amazing conversations and monologues. I wish I could speak like this and be as articulate. Instead, I usually become a blubbering mess.
I loved Lyndsey Marshal – both as “Nan” and “Lina”. Although, as the latter, her Southern Belle accent was sometimes a little bit hard to understand. But, she charmed me as “Nan”, the responsible older sister heartbroken over her wayward younger brother.
Should you be in London and stuffed to the gills with macaroons, take yourself to the Apollo Theatre and see this play. It’s playing until May 9th and we got tickets at the TKTS booth in Leicester Square for only £26.50.
