Middle

by David Eldridge

Why do people ever see things through?
Why do they ever stay?
It's so hard.

Every relationship reaches a crossroad some time.

As dawn breaks, Maggie is heating some milk and Gary wonders what she's doing out of bed. Maybe it's time for an honest conversation – but how much honesty can this marriage take?

Following his five-star play Beginning , which played sold-out runs at the National Theatre and in the West End, writer David Eldridge brings his raw, touching and funny style to a portrait of a 21st century marriage, the second of three plays to explore love and relationships.

Genres: Plays, Theatre

88 pages, Paperback

Published June 8, 2022

Reviews

[Callum Morris-Horne · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 rounded down.

This is the second part of Eldridge’s triptych of plays looking at the different stages of 21st century relationships. I saw 𝘉𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 a few years back and recall really liking its raw, realistic portrait of a blossoming romance and this is even better; though the window we peer through this time around has us look upon a wilting, middle-aged marriage. A truly coruscating and gut-wrenching—but not humourless—insight into contemporary class relations and the crossroads of love.

[Kelly Stewart · Rating 5 out of 5]

A gorgeous play about love, marriage, and class - highly recommend.

[Tuti · Rating 4 out of 5]

very realistic, great writing

[Doug · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read Eldridge's first in his intended triptych of plays on relationships (Beginning) and gave that a mere three stars also, but felt I should give this second part a chance. It had much the same problems in my estimation as the first one - not least being a stage direction he repeats at least a dozen times of telling the actors to hold in silence 'for as long as you think you can get away with' - which is at least a marginal improvement on his calling repeatedly for 5 MINUTES of silence in the first play. Actors might enjoy the challenge of that, but to me it belies a playwright reneging on his responsibility to his cast to provide them specific things to play.

Also in the unfathomable stage directions category - several times he indicates someone putting a kettle on to boil, gives them 20 seconds of dialogue, and then tells them to take the kettle off and make tea - I know of NO appliance that can boil water in under 3 minutes. Irksome!

This again is a two-hander kitchen sick drama (literally - the entire play takes place in the kitchen!), detailing a middle of the night encounter between a middle-aged couple who have been married 13 years, with one daughter, who have come to an impasse in their marriage. Nothing startling is revealed, just benign unhappiness, which I feel would make for a very tedious 100 minutes, as seems to be true, if one trusts the reviews (below).

The other problem to my mind is that I felt throughout that Gary is the much more sympathetic and maligned character, while Maggie - although her unhappiness and struggles are certainly understandable - I found hard pressed to really like (it would be interesting to hear if women find her situation more empathetic). This unbalances the play, IMHO. I'll still read the final chapter when it materializes - Eldridge has talent, to be sure, but I just don't really relate to such heteronormative domestic squabbles.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=havPQ...
https://www.theguardian.com/stage/202...
https://www.timeout.com/london/theatr...
https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/th...

[Rodrigo · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5
I liked Beginning but Middle is where it's at. I felt trapped, felt every range of emotion for these two. From anger, resentment to heartbreak and understanding. A real journey that hasn't left me, this one.

[Ben Willows · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hitting us with "I'm not sure I love you anymore" on page 2, this is how you write a PLAY