Review: TO HAVE AND TO HOLD, Hampstead Theatre

Garnering acclaim with plays including the Tony-winning One Man Two Guvnors and The Heretic, Richard Bean’s semi-biographical comedy To Have And To Hold hosts its world premiere at the Hampstead Theatre.

Florence and Jack have been married for 71 years and they hate each other. Now in their 90’s living in Wetwang, Yorkshire with no internet and drinking multiple cups of tea, tensions rise when their adult children Rob and Tina come to visit.

Co-directed by Richard Wilson (Peggy For You) and Terry Johnson (Prism), Bean’s semi-biographical script attempts to explore ageing and the generational split of an elderly couple who’ve stayed in the same place all their lives versus their university educated children who’ve flown the nest through a comedic lens.

Riddled with cliched dialogue and unfunny gags, much of the play is spent watching a dysfunctional family bicker through meandering conversations with little structure or purpose. There’s a brief subplot involving neighbour Eddie possibly stealing money from Flo and Jack’s joint account and one moment of tension during its abrupt ending set in the Covid lockdown, but the quick resolution loses the pathos behind it.

What feels as dated and worn out as jokes confusing Naked Attraction for an adult channel and plugging a Tesla charger through the window is James Cotterill’s set, but this is to the play’s benefit. Capturing the realism the script fails to make, Cotterill’s attention to detail immediately transports you to what feels like your grandparents' living room (I certainly remember seeing the same red patterned carpet) with those infamously uncomfortable fabric recliners and kitschy patterned wallpaper.

What prevents To Have and the To Hold from being a total mess is the performances. Always a delight to see onstage, Alun Armstrong (Les Miserables) brings as much humour as the script allows as cantankerous 91 year-old retired copper Jack. When not making snide remarks or shocking his family over his health issues, Armstrong brings nuance when secretly recording tapes about Jack’s more eventful cases involving wedding dresses and Cornish pasties.

Marion Bailey (The Crown) also brings as much humour as she can to his put-upon wife Florence, always on her feet making cups of tea and forgetting to unlock the door despite her failing eyesight.

Christopher Fulford and Hermione Gulliford (Holby City) capture the exasperation of self-absorbed middle aged children as writer Rob and business manager Tina, dealing with their elderly parents in a way that feels relatable to baby boomers. While not the best written comic relief, Adrian Hood still gets some chuckles as neighbour Rhubarb Eddie.

If To Have and to Hold premiered twenty years ago, it may have felt like a refreshing and even innovative black comedy. Now it feels more like the concept of a play stretched out to two hours, exploring two generations that don’t resonate any longer.

The cast do their best with the material and the set is well executed, but when you’re forced to watch often selfish characters hash their issues out, you may get more entertainment out of watching your own family bicker for two hours.

To Have And To Hold is at Hampstead Theatre until 25 November

Photo Credits: Marc Brenner

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