Thursday, April 29

When Harry Met Sally - Theatre Royal

Two solid performances from the leading actors endeared a packed Theatre Royal audience to them as they recreated this famous film for the stage.

Coronation Street's Rupert Hill (Jamie Baldwin) played opposite Sarah Jayne Dunn, (Mandy from Hollyoaks), as Harry and Sally, who met in New York when she needed her flat decorating - and were then thrown together again five years later, and another year down the line to begin their confusing relationship.

As we know, he's onto a winner with his disputed claim that a man and a woman cannot remain friends without romance getting in the way and we thus explore the possibilities...

Such was Rupert's command of the role that we could feel the women in the audience seething at his attitude and stance but, of course, they were sucked in and fell under his spell, as did Sarah. Despite also coming from soapland, she proved that these are actors of quality by matching her foil on stage.

Alas, there were too few men in the audience to judge her by their reaction, although the audience reaction as a whole was interesting for her most famous scene, spontaneously applauding as one at her, ahem, acting skills.

Compared with the Hollywood blockbuster, the simple set and straightforward scene changes helped focus on the narrative and let our imagination fill in the gaps.

Whether set in the park or the gym the cast truly made us believe, simply because the nature of their story is that we want to believe and identify with their situation.

A small but perfectly formed cast carried the story through to its inevitable conclusion - but we won't spoil the ending in case you get a chance to catch the show before the weekend.

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Nottingham is full of fun, according to the traditional football chant. It's full of a few other things, too, so while I welcome comments, don't bother adding anything that won't get published...