The gesture of Rufus Norris’s final piece of National Theatre programming being called End has been a bit muddied by the temporary closure of the Dorfman Theatre causing a delay that means it only runs as his replacement Indhu Rubasingham’s first season has already started.
The main thing, though, is that End marks the conclusion of David Eldridge’s trilogy of relationship dramas that began with the fizz of the delightful global smash Beginning and continued with the darker, more difficult Middle.
What will End be about? Clive Owen and Saskia Reeves make for a heavyweight cast for Rachel O’Riordan’s production and are certainly the oldest couple in the trilogy. That said, they’re both shy of their retirement age, and End seems unlikely to explore the idea of growing old together. The blurb says that after a mostly happy life together it’s time for things to end for Alfie and Julie – you can speculate as to what this means but we’ll soon see for ourselves.
