Her sense of transience and missed opportunities, memorably described as a nostalgia for what has never taken place, is beautifully communicated. The play also springs a final surprise which sends you out of the theatre with an unexpected smile. No one could describe this slight comedy as great drama, but it offers two of our finest actors in a work of real wit and charm. In her famously popular play Art - still running in the West End Miss Reza brooded in comic style about the difficulty we have honestly speaking our minds. She poked mild fun at the supposedly close friendships men achieve and suggested on what insecure foundations they were based.
Echoes resound in The Unexpected Man .
This time, though, Miss Reza offers an abstruse view of two cut-off people steeped in isolation and loneliness. The man conceals. The woman reveals. The man preserves his wary isolation and the woman recognises how much of himself he hides in his novels. Matthew Warchus's vivacious production, which bounds with theatrical energy, opens up this two character play, ensuring The Unexpected Man never seems better suited to radio.