Review: SMALL HOTEL, Starring Ralph Fiennes, Theatre Royal Bath

How many extended metaphors does it take to change a lightbulb? Only one, please, Rebecca Lenkiewicz.

Commissioned by Ralph Fiennes to come up with a new play for the Ralph Fiennes/Theatre Royal Bath Season, Lenkiewicz's Small Hotel offers way too many exciting ideas – alas, none of which string together coherently into an easy-to-comprehend piece.

A shame, as the story of failing TV celebrity Larry – beautifully played by Ralph Fiennes, undoubtedly one of Britain's finest actors today – trying to deal with a diminished career, difficult depressive-alcoholic mother, ailing twin brother and foxy former lover, is promising.

All of the actors do their best in this uneven production. Fiennes's Larry is particularly splendid at delivering dry humour in a resigned way. Married twice, he says his first marriage "was so bad it's hard to compare to the second". Another running gag is how Larry's been reduced to selling suitcases, that he prefers to call "executive briefcases," on a shopping channel.

He also excels at displaying his confusion over how to cope with an annoying mother (a terrific performance from Francesca Annis, who goes from charming to despairing in a heartbeat). And an unexpected reunion with younger lover Marianne (Slow Horses's Rosalind Eleazar really lets rip), who appears, with disastrous consequences, on his live TV show. 

However, with so many themes – including the #MeToo movement, abortion, old Hollywood songs, mother issues, lost love, fraternal jealousy, haikus, trees, perils of the entertainment industry and a bit of tap dancing thrown in for good measure, it was hard to work out what this play was really trying to say.

In the programme notes, Lenkiewicz says she listened to LPs of old Hollywood musicals on a loop when she was a kid, which I guess sort of explains the play's title (Frank Sinatra sang "There's a Small Hotel" from the musical On Your Toes in 1936) and I'm always up for a bit of tap dancing, but I'm not sure it added a hell of a lot to the production.

Surely, someone should have sat Lenkiewicz down and asked: What is your play really about? What are you really trying to say? Why tap dancing? Is this a metaphor for the cutthroat and evil entertainment business, or how we play act our way unsuccessfully through life? What do the trees represent? And the haikus? There's some jolly good material here, but it needs to be honed down and clarified.

In addition, Fiennes also plays Larry's twin Richard, in scruffier clothes and with a beard. Pre-recorded Richard appears on screen, so any rapport between the brothers is lost. I'd prefer another actor to take part live on stage (do they really have to be identical twins?), so we feel the tension between the two.

Speaking of tension, just as a scene was building up and leading to something interesting, an important comment or concept was dropped and we then moved on to something else. And even though there were some funny and poignant moments along the way, momentum was lost. 

By the time we reached the end (and let's not talk about the ending, which I didn't feel paid off at all), we felt distinctly cheated and a bit dissatisfied that a new play with plenty of encouraging elements never coalesced into something special. Maybe with a bit of tweaking and shuffling Small Hotel could be one big beautiful play.

Small Hotel runs at Theatre Royal Bath until October 18.