David Eldridge’s Beginning is a neat and intimate two-hander about acute loneliness and the difficulty of finding a partner late in life. 100 minutes long and acted straight through without interval, it’s tender and heartfelt, funny and not funny.
Two strangers fancy each other. She is 38 and single; he is 42 and divorced. Desperate for love, marriage and children, she makes all the advances. The acting is subtle; there are no histrionics and the actors get it absolutely right. Justine Mitchell and Sam Troughton are especially good with the excruciating embarrassment, the awkwardness, the long silences, the clumsiness and the uncertainty. The director is Polly Findlay.