Following her late husband's instructions to keep a journal of her feelings, June finds that grieving is not the straightforward process she had imagined... especially when she finds herself surprisingly drawn to a stranger she sees wearing her husband’s suit! Read more …
Good Grief features that sparkling combination of wry humour and poignancy which characterised Keith Waterhouse’s extensive writing. An award-winning journalist, his work for the stage included Billy Liar, Our Song, Mr and Mrs Nobody and Jeffrey Bernard Is Unwell.
Penelope Keith is one of Britain’s best-loved actresses, known to millions for her television roles in The Good Life and To the Manor Born. Her recent stage work includes The Rivals, Entertaining Angels, Blithe Spirit, Mrs Warren's Profession and The Importance of Being Earnest.
In terms of getting under the skin of the grieving process, as well as the tools required to move on, Waterhouse’s script about loss, entertaining as it is, never quite reaches the emotional depths it hopes to plumb and relies on farce and comic wit to skirt over that fact.
Good Grief makes for an entertaining night: the production is easy to watch and mildly engrossing.
The gently amusing, uneventful plot (rather too gentle and uneventful to be totally involving), paints a bittersweet, sardonic portrait of marriage, widowhood and bereavement.
Good Grief can rise above its technical hitches, and is already attractive in its punchy lines and situations, providing plenty of laughs, well-delivered by its cast. If that is all you are looking for, consider it a four star show.
If the script is well-crafted and funny, though, it’s Keith’s terrific performance as June that lights up the show.
King's Theatre, Edinburgh from Monday October 1, 2012, until Saturday October 6, 2012. More info: http://www.edtheatres.com/kings
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