Apologia

Stockard's back

Rejoice for Stockard Channing who returns to the West End to star in this richly entertaining play, the second from Alexi Kaye Campbell (The Pride), directed by Jamie Lloyd. Tony-winner Channing takes centre stage as Kristin, renowned art historian and former radical demonstrator, a left-wing product of 60s idealism who never knowingly missed a protest or a picket line. But where Kristin is proud of her part in history, her sons Simon and Peter are not quite, wishing that their revolutionary mother had spent a little bit less time suffering for humanity and more time on the suffering humans around her.

Gathering at her country cottage, the sons arrive with their girlfriends for the join celebration of Kristin's birthday and the publication of her memoir. The story of her life in print might be a literary hit, but there's one large omission, the fact that she has had children at all.

As wine flows, home truths and long-held resentments rise to the surface as each party argues that the other has played fast and loose with the facts, leading Kristin to finally confront her achievements and weather certain actions were really worth the sacrifice.

A bit of classic middle-class dinner party comedy, but by no means dull, Apologia premiered in 2009 and was met with critical success, proving that Alexi Kaye Campbell was no one hit wonder. Expect a witty, dysfunctional domestic scene full of sharp observation with an emotional undertone.