Fifth Step

 I went to see the National Theatre's Fifth Step yesterday which was showing on stage via the cinema link throughout the country.  A great way for people in the sticks to see live National Theatre productions from London.  Of course I wasn't seeing it on the day live because I don't go out in the evenings but I was seeing it in the daytime.  

The Fifth Step is a two man production starring Jack Lowden and Martin Freeman.  There are no props apart from a couple of chairs and the audience sit round the stage almost on stage.  At first I found this a little off-putting but that was probably mainly because I wasn't expecting it when the curtain went up shall we say.  It soon became perfectly ok and I became one of the close-to-stage audience myself. 

It is raw stuff and the Fifth Step refers to an Alcoholics Anonymous 12 step programme.   Martin Freeman (James) plays the sponsor to new member Luca (Jack Lowden).    The plot was crystal clear to me from almost the start and the crucial fifth step was going to be no surprise as the two swapped stories and came closer and closer to an awkward coincidence at the fifth step.

There were three of us in the cinema to enjoy this production.  I had an almost two hour writing session in the café beforehand having caught an early train in the morning so all in all a good and productive day out and home before 5pm.