Choice: Theatre Event

Kevin Elyot in Conversation, Cottesloe, National Theatre, London SE1 (0171-928 2252) 6pm

At the recent 25th anniversary gala for The Bush theatre, Kevin Elyot, author of My Night With Reg, won the award for most mentions. Not content with watching an excerpt from his 1982 playwriting debut Coming Clean, Elyot (above) also popped up as pianist, performer and singer in Alan Plater's The Fosdyke Saga... wherein lies a clue to his playwriting gift. The programme for his latest play, The Day I Stood Still, quotes Walter Pater's famous remark: "All art aspires to the condition of music", and there's quite definitely a musical quality to Elyot's writing. (His combination of spareness and neat structure marks him out as one of the few people around who really should write an opera libretto.) The new play, a haunting tale of love never quite lost, marks the National Theatre debut of director Ian Rickson, whose day job is running the Royal Court, but tonight he's on hand as co-conspirator and interviewer.