This morning, the Old Vic released the details of its forthcoming season, and, as predicted, it’s wildly impressive, from a staging of Samuel Beckett’s Endgame starring Daniel Radcliffe and Alan Cumming to Ella Hickson’s reimagining of Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex. Most exciting of all, however, might be Claire Foy and Matt Smith’s reunion in Lungs, written by playwright Duncan Macmillan (People, Places, Things). At first glance, the dark comedy’s premise is simple: while queuing at a checkout in Ikea, “M” suggests to his other half “W” that the two have a baby together. Her response? “It’s like you punched me in the face and then asked me a maths question.”
What follows is an elaborate debate about what it means to have a child in the 21st century when “everything’s going to hell in a handcart”. As “W” says: “I could fly to New York and back every day for seven years and still not leave a carbon footprint as big as if I have a child. 10,000 tonnes of CO2. That’s the weight of the Eiffel Tower. I’d be giving birth to the Eiffel Tower.” While the exact dates of the run are yet to be confirmed, the Old Vic’s Artistic Director Matthew Warcus has confirmed that it will be “extremely limited”. Warcus will also direct the play.
Foy and Smith have of course previously starred opposite each other as Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip in Netflix’s blockbuster The Crown, roles that have now been passed on to Olivia Colman and Tobias Menzies for the third instalment of the series.
