She's an American tourist out on a drunken hen night in Spain. He's from Madrid and is in Barcelona to shift the belongings from a flat in a building which is being demolished. They meet in a tapas bar, and she's quite drunk while he's relatively sober. The infamous one-night stand begins, but what starts out to be a night of passion, becomes an amusing conversation about politics, a paring away of masks, and then leads to some very painful personal revelations. Bess Wohl has written a very funny play about a one-night stand that leads to a baring of souls that is both touching and hilarious. Lily Collins is terrific as the archetypal American airhead, Irene, whose superficiality hides some painful truths even from herself – although some of Collins' lines were delivered so quickly that we missed them. Irene's forced optimism and wilful denial of facts is finally punctured by a brooding Latin lover whose enticingly enigmatic behaviour is not simply a flirtatious pose. As Manuel, Álvaro Morte does a super job of playing the straight man to Collins' delightfully over-the-top performance, and when his secrets finally come out, he manages to share them with a heartfelt sincerity that never becomes maudlin. Frankie Bradshaw's set nicely captures the feel of a Spanish flat in a big city, and Lynette Linton's direction is nicely paced throughout. However, the decision to have a considerable amount of the action take place while the characters are sitting on the floor might not work for the sightlines of all members of the audience. Barcelona deals with a subject that has a universal resonance: a stranger invited into one's life for one purpose, who suddenly makes one reconsider issues that have been festering for a long time. Wohl's wonderfully wacky play is performed beautifully, and this is a show that will elicit lots of laughs, plus some knowing nods of recognition.
Rated: ★★★★
Reviewed by J.C.
Photo by Marc Brenner
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