EDINBURGH 2026 Review: STAY A LITTLE LONGER, Pleasance Courtyard
Runs until 31 August.
Her (Rachel Nicholson) and Him (Charlie Sheepshanks) met at university and have been together ever since. Twelve years later, they need to talk about something specific, and it has nothing to do with the fact that they’re getting married in three months. Tom Foreman writes and directs a pompous, stale look at love and grief, introducing two people who don’t really have anything to say. At this stage, the piece is boring and mundane, overly predictable, and unfortunately pleonastic. The plot is obvious from the get-go, featuring dialogue that meanders too much to create any dramatic tension.
The couple continuously reiterate the same points, like their devotion and the blind support they show one another. They also reminisce about certain shared situations with way too many details to be authentic to two people who’ve known each other for over a decade. Foreman’s writing is well-crafted and coherent, but easily tips into the melodramatic with its hyperbolic emotions and flamboyant allegories. His characters speak in beautiful clichés and dazzling turns of phrase seeping with theatrical imagery and over-dramatic emphasis. The prose may be elegant to read, but it’s artificial to hear.
The play is structurally sound, with the big revelation coming right at the halfway mark and ending in a perfect full-circle moment. Everything is done by the book, but it makes it an utterly formulaic and unchallenging snapshot of life. The duo pretty much follow suit: they’re Everyman and Everywoman who have ever had to grieve a loved one. But the universality of their experience doesn’t become a comforting thought; it remains a bland glance at the stages of grief.
That said, Nicholson carries the production with a sharp performance. She is emotive and emotional, delivering an unflinching portrayal of heartbreak. Sheepshanks tries (and fails) to keep in step. This is partially due to the writing (you can only call your surviving fiancée “sweetheart” and “my love” a definite number of times in an hour before it becomes trite) and the unoriginality of his part. It’s a shame, but Stay A Little Longer can definitely be saved with thorough dramaturgical work and a more original vision.
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