alphabetical author index

Beginning

  • David Eldridge
  • Full Length Play, Dramatic Comedy, Contemporary
  • 1M, 1F
  • ISBN: 9781350061262

"You didn't fancy it then?"
"Fancy what?"
"Getting in the taxi."
"No."

  • Full Length Play
  • Dramatic Comedy

  • Time Period: Contemporary
  • Target Audience: Adult
  • Set Requirements: Interior Set

  • Performance Group:
  • College Theatre / Student, Professional Theatre
Every story starts somewhere.

It's the early hours of the morning and Danny's the last straggler at Laura's party. The flat's in a mess. And so are they. One more drink?

David Eldridge's play Beginning is a sharp and astute two-hander that takes an intimate look at the first fragile moments of risking your heart and taking a chance.

Beginning was first staged at the National Theatre, London, in the Dorfman auditorium, in October 2017. It transferred to the Ambassadors Theatre in the West End in January 2018.

This edition of the play is published by Methuen Drama.

REVIEWS:

"It's the tentative (anti) romance for 21st-century London life and it is, quite simply, magnificent... never less than utterly refreshing."

 Evening Standard

"A wry, funny and touching meditation on loneliness, that private shame of the singleton in the era of the dating app and of fraudulent boasting on social media. Written with a real depth of insight, humour, compassion and a keen sense of the ridiculous."

 Independent

"Though often very funny, the play is strung with emotional trip-wires - lines that send you sprawling."

 The Stage

"A hilarious bittersweet rom-com. A modern classic."

 Radio Times

"One of the funniest, most touching seduction scenes you'll ever see on stage."

 Telegraph

"An expertly scripted rom-com. A glorious evening."

 The Times

Premiere Production: National Theatre, London, 2017; West End, 2018.
  • Casting: 1M, 1F
  • Casting Attributes: Strong Role for Leading Woman (Star Vehicle), Strong Role for Leading Man (Star Vehicle)