Review: QUARTET IN AUTUMN, Arcola Theatre

Despite her relative unpopularity within her lifetime, Barbara Pym always excelled at plumbing the depths in the lives of desperately ordinary people. In her 1977 novel Quartet in Autumn, she is concerned with those who live their lives waiting for something to happen, and what happens when that something never comes.

In this adaptation for the stage by Samantha Harvey, one character indeed says that “a whole life can be spent just waiting for something”. The titular quartet are self-described “colleagues, if you can call us that” in a non-descript office, on the brink of retirement; Letty (Kate Duchêne) has waited years for marriage, and in its absence she waits for an idealised move to the countryside that may never be, to the home of a friend who has recently married late in life herself. Meanwhile, Edwin (Anthony Calf) and Norman (Paul Rider) find release from their own unfulfilment respectively in religion and in cynicism.

Where Harvey’s script really finds its feet, however, is the fourth member of the quartet, Marcia (Pooky Quesnel). Spiky, untrusting and socially isolated owing entirely to her own behaviour, Marcia rejects attempts at friendship from her co-workers, hoards tinned food and stares obsessively into the windows of her married surgeon. Quesnel is affecting in her portrayal of Marcia’s alienation, particularly after her mastectomy, but also wonderfully haughty in her delivery of such cutting lines as “he’s like a newt, going around shouting at cars”.

This is the kind of one-liner Harvey excels at, an injection of wisdom that disrupts some otherwise mundane observation about Tube delays or prices at the supermarket. But this tightness can hold the play back from achieving depth beyond its witticisms, and leaves it all feeling rather one-note.

For all its powers of observation, Quartet in Autumn lacks a certain sense of dynamism, and a willingness to probe why its characters have aged into the people they’ve become. This problem is at its worst after Marcia’s eventual collapse from starvation; the script seems unable to handle the burden of grief it has inflicted on the characters, and so ends up rather tastelessly playing Marcia’s hoarding and eating disorder for laughs.

Director Dominic Dromgoole occasionally has his cast attempt to provide some introspection by performing monologues under spotlights, but this is not enough to resolve the unsatisfying feeling that we’re lacking some sense of them as people. Ellie Wintour’s set, which hones in on office desks and restaurant tables amid the vast expanse of the stage, tries to capture a sense of claustrophobia and enforced closeness between the characters. But the cast are trapped at their desks for too long, and the setup instead ends up feeling fusty and dated in its period stylings.

Perhaps there are limitations to be found in the source material. Much of Harvey’s time as an adaptor is spent making characters report second-hand what happens directly to them in the novel, and this restricts her options for developing their interiority. Still, her solid attempt at capturing Pym’s observational touch is carried by a talented cast, and there’s many a quotable line here.

Quartet in Autumn plays at the Arcola Theatre until 20 June

2026 Theater Fans' Choice Awards - Live Stats

Best Featured Performer in a Play - Top 3

1. Laurie Metcalf - Death of a Salesman

8.4% of votes

2. Danny Burstein - Marjorie Prime

5.3% of votes

3. June Squibb - Marjorie Prime

5.3% of votes

Vote Now! View Live Stats