Although I am no lover of romantic comedies, I snapped up tickets for When Harry Met Sally knowing it is one of my girlfriend's favourite films.
Then on the night of the show she was sick and I had to go alone. Damn. Oh well, I thought, maybe I'll enjoy it. It can't be that bad, can it?
Well, it might not have been had it not been for Gaby Roslin.
Or to put it more accurately, Gaby Roslin's awful American accent. American accents are pretty annoying anyway but her grating attempt at one takes the biscuit.
To make matters worse, she shouts every single word. I can't remember Meg Ryan bellowing at Billy Crystal.
It's a shame, too, because I think I might have enjoyed myself if I could have blocked it out.
Co-star Jonathan Wrather puts in a performance Crystal would have been proud of as Harry, Marcy Kahan's adaptation of the original film works well and the production is slick throughout.
There is plenty for lovers of the film to enjoy as Kahan has stuck to the original storyline as much as possible.
Instead of Sally first meeting Harry when she agrees to give him a lift home from university, they meet when Sally hires Harry to decorate her new apartment.
Kahan even finds a way to keep the documentary interludes of couples describing how they met by having a giant screen on the wall behind the stage.
When they finally get together it is still New Year's Eve but now it is 1999 ten years after the film first came out.
And of course there is that scene. You know the one where Ryan fakes an orgasm in the middle of a cafe.
To give Roslin her dues, she makes a pretty decent job of it and raises the biggest laugh of the night. Maybe that's because it is the only point in the play when she drops the phoney accent.
Roslin apart, When Harry Met Sally is an excellent production. My girlfriend would have loved it.
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