The Cocktail Party

by T S Eliot

performed by BTG June 2003

A Drawing Room Comedy

"The Cocktail Party" begins and ends at a party in the drawing room of Edward and Lavinia, whose marriage is breaking up. Who, in modern times, could counsel them but a psychiatrist? Reilly, however, is more than a psychiatrist, just as Julia and Alex, social gadflies and friends of the troubled couple, are more than they seem. With devastating truth and fascinating insights, delivered with the lightest and most eloquent of touches, it is revealed that Edward is a man incapable of loving, and Lavinia a woman incapable of being loved. The psychiatrist informs them of this, and announces, "you begin to see, I hope, How much you have in common. . . . The best of a bad job is all any of us make of it."

Directed By Helen Sharman

Alvin Cohen as Edward Chamberlayne
Dana Kidson as Julia Shuttlethwaite
Sharon Pidgeon as Celia Coplestone
Peter Kidson as Alexander MacColgie Gibbs
Phil Howe as Peter Quilpe
John Hone as Sir Henry Harcourt-Reilly
Sue Dorman as Lavinia Chamberlayne
Cindy Linley as A Nurse-Secretary
Val Honigmann as The servant

This play was performed at The Beacon Centre

Production Dates were Wednesday 4th June to Saturday 7th June 2003.