HAVING written a string of epic works about the great monoliths of society - the law, the church, contemporary politics - David Hare turned his attentions to be minutiae of human relationships.
One should by no means deduce from that, however, that Skylight is, in any sense, a "smaller" play. On the contrary, in this ruthless yet humane exposure of a doomed relationship he takes a broadside swipe at just about every area of contemporary British life - the Tory government, the right wing press, education, housing, domestic chaos and, above all, self satisfied, self made Thatcher's children, of whom Tom Sergeant is undoubtedly one.
Tom and Kyra met at a point in their lives when most people would have merely nodded and moved on she the daughter of a wealthy solicitor, on her way to university; he a wide boy from a humble home, pulling himself up by the bootstraps with a restaurant or two to his name. Aside from a bit of rough, she saw in him then an honesty and a grasp of reality which she found intensely appealing. In her, he saw a capable, confident young woman, who was to become an integral member of his family as well as his mistress.
Nine years on, and in vastly altered circumstances, their lives come together again, but in mirror image. And, looking into that mirror, neither much likes what he or she sees.
Simon Magill has been as even handed in his closely detailed direction as Hare has been in his arguments for and against the capitalist/socialist ideals. Andrea Irvine is rivetingly tense as Kyra, avoiding the big responsibilities of life, yet devoted to teaching in one of west London's most deprived areas and, in the process, eschewing the very idea of happiness. Stuart Rayner is highly effective as the ostensibly appalling, materialistic Tom, the archetypal Essex man, yet possessed of a curious vulnerability and a sometimes refreshingly scoffing regard for high faluting, idealistic cant. Paul Parris completes the human tangle as Tom's son Edward, who, despite the bad press he receives from the old man, turns out to be a cut above his dad.
