west end transfer

After a five star premiere at the Menier Chocolate Factory, Trevor Nunn's expert retooling of this forgotten Terrance Rattigan gem transfers to a new home in the West End. The first production of the play in the capital since 1944, Love in Idleness is the story nearly 18-year-old Michael as he returns from four years of evacuation in Canada. Full of socialist ideals, he is soon horrified to discover the identity of his mother's wealthy new lover.

A comedy-drama with shades of Hamlet, this transfer retains much of the original cast, with Anthony Head, Eve Best and Ed Bluemel reprising their much praised performances in the lead roles as Sir John, Olivia and Michael respectively.

Family ties that bind

All is definitely not fair in love and war, as Olivia's son Michael returns to a supposedly jubilant post-war Britain, where he finds that she is now the enjoying a new status in society life as the mistress of Tory cabinet minister Sir John Fletcher. Disgusted at his mother's actions, he tries to reason with her - only to fall foul of John's authoritarian snobbishness and viciousness. Michael is forced to choose between love of his mother, and love for his own personal beliefs.