BWW Reviews: MY NIGHT WITH REG, The Apollo Theatre, January 23 2015

My Night with Reg, Kevin Elyot's seminal comedy, is in its finest, slightly too tight regalia at the Apollo Theatre, following its critically acclaimed run at the Donmar Warehouse last year.

Delightfully true to the loving chaos found amongst most old friends, the show commences with Guy, a sweet thirty-something man with a somewhat lonely heart, bustling around before his flat-warming. The tasteful lounge and conservatory are the epitome of middle-class peace, until the gloriously tasteless neon lights and nineties pop kick in - a wonderful call by director Robert Hastie and lighting designer Paul Pyant. The set is beautifully dressed, as is usual for the Donmar's productions.

After the first scene's shambolically happy dinner preparations, we find ourselves at two wakes. This dichotomy between the outrageous joy of youth re-experienced and reunited and the cruelly premature blows of bereavement make My Night with Reg one of the most cathartic depictions of the AIDS crisis. This production is all the more poignant for following Elyot's death in June, just a few months before this revival opened.

Though we never meet Reg, who is possibly the most discussed character not to be in a play, he was brought to life beautifully by his partner, Daniel. Played sensitively, hilariously and with great aplomb by Geoffrey Streatfeild, Daniel certainly has some of the show's wittiest lines - and it is fun to note that Streatfeild was in the National Theatre's production of Bacchai, despite his character's vicious comments about that play. Richard Cant made a delightfully awkward Bernie while the rest of the cast gave excellent performances; here is a show without a weak link, though slightly more variation of pace and energy wouldn't have gone amiss. However, Jonathan Broadbent and Julian Ovenden's performances were very moving and young Lewis Reeves gave the performance of the show; his subtle and sweet portrayal of Eric was beautifully pitched.

While this intimate play is perhaps most at home in a smaller space, the staging has been very well-adapted, with Ovenden and Streatfeild's dance taking excellent advantage of the larger stage. All in all, this is the kind of theatre we Brits do best and here is a fantastic example of it. Now we just need a female equivalent.

My Night with Reg runs at the Apollo Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue from 24 January to April 11 2015.