April in Paris

Photo credit Eamonn McGoldrick

Al and Bet are not what you'd call love's young dream; their marriage is on shaky foundations, a bit like their house, their job prospects and their finances. So when they win a holiday to Paris in a magazine competition it seems the ideal way to inject some joie de vivre into their humdrum lives. Read more …

Armed with phrasebook, map and her new suit from British Home Stores, Bet drags Al out of his shed and off on the trip of a lifetime. Together they bicker their way through the sights, suspicious cuisine and sleazy underbelly of Paris. Can the City of Lovers pull them out of their romance rut, or has their relationship been lost in translation?

Straight talking, snappy and peppered with dry Northern wit; Shirley Valentine meets When Harry Met Sally in John Godber’s charming and bittersweet comedy about married life. Nominated for a 1994 Olivier Award for Comedy of the Year, April in Paris is an irresistible dose of pathos and humour from one of the most performed writers in the English language.

The critical consensus

Emma Gregory and Andrew Westfield come together with CVs that encompass every genre of stage and television and their experience shines through as Bet and Al grapple with the boredom of their marital routine. They handle comedy, pathos and hopelessness with equal dexterity and look every inch the married couple who can hardly bear to live together, but also could never live apart.

Peter Cargill, The Stage, 18/03/2013

If the outward shape and arc of the play is a touch predictable, and even slightly patronising, there’s a clear-sighted ruthlessness in its detail that adds a chilling edge to the drama.

(*) Joyce McMillan, 21/03/2013

Everything in April In Paris – from its sentimental, sometimes bleak comedy to its working-class political sympathies – exists on the surface. A master of his populist genre, Godber leaves us searching in vain for any dramatic depth.

Mark Brown, Scottish Stage, 08/04/2013