Play of the week: Daytona, Park Theatre (Park200), London N4
Written by actor-turned-playwright Oliver Cotton, the third production to appear at the new Park Theatre is set in New York, 1986, and stars Harry Shearer and Maureen Lipman as married Jewish immigrants in their 70s.
One night Joe's brother, Billy (John Bowe), absent since 1955, bursts back into their cosy but humdrum lives. Billy's explanation of why is drawn out but punched through with a dry New Yorker wit.
Lipman is restrained but knows when to let rip, whereas Shearer is a calm counterpart to her and Bowe's wild-eyed storyteller. Cotton fuses the humorous trivialities of their lives with the fantastical – and makes the most unbelievable story seem real.
(020 7870 6876) to 18 August
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