This new double-bill pairs Caryl Churchill’s half-hour short ‘Three More Sleepless Nights’ with the almost-full-length ‘Fourplay’ by Catalan playwright Sergi Belbel. The plays have plenty in common: both feature two male-female couples, look at relationships with a wry humour, and feature beds prominently (exclusively) in their respective sets. Both plays also experiment with formal structure.
In Churchill’s piece, we see across three short scenes a couple who argue by shouting over one another, then a couple who barely communicate, then one partner from each relationship having formed a new alliance together, showing how their respective personalities clash with one another.
In Belbel’s piece, a middle-aged couple attempt to set up a pair of young friends to ‘christen’ their new bed. The playwright chooses to tell his curious tale with odd-numbered scenes advancing forward chronologically and even-numbered scenes starting at the end of the play and running backwards. This leaves the audience knowing almost immediately how it ends, but having no idea what it is or why it ended thus. The play makes precious little sense at all until about half way through, and isn’t helped by interminable blackouts between every short scene. Meanwhile, the actors’ chosen characterisations don’t quite give the plays enough comic energy. This is a difficult space, and much of the necessary pace has been drained by muted performances and echoey acoustics.
