Most of the action in the National Theatre production of Till the Stars Come Down, which now has a summer season at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, unfolds within a white circle marked out on a stage covered in dark-green artificial turf. Inside the circle, a wedding takes place, from dinner to speeches to dancing. The confined space suggests what big family reunions can become: claustrophobic, emotionally charged. In Beth Steel’s play, directed by Bikan Sheibani, the marriage is between Sylvia, the daughter of Polish immigrants, and Marek, just barely accepted by the family. It’s a hot summer day in the English Midlands. “As the night rolls on,” writes the Times chief critic Clive Davis, “fragments of real life spill in front of us like splinters of light from the glitterball.” Immigration and integration, community and individualism—these themes intertwine as alcohol pours, tensions rise, and long-buried truths come to light. —Jeanne Malle
The Arts Intel Report
Till the Stars Come Down

The cast of Till the Stars Come Down.
When
Until Sept 27
Where
Etc
Photo: Manuel Harlan