REVIEW: HOME AT SEVEN at Theatre at the Tabard 2 - 20 September 2025

Robert McLanachan • 7 September 2025

‘a great piece of writing dealing with a tricky subject in an honest way; perhaps accidentally more relevant today in the shadow of covid …’ ★★★★

The first London revival of RC Sherriff’s psychological mystery marking 50 years since his death.

David Preston, played by Sam Ellis returns home from work one evening to the dismay of his wife. Mrs. Preston, Bridget Lambert, informs him that he has been missing for twenty four hours. She envelopes the audience in a blanket of nervousness, worry and uncertainty for the rest of the play, expertly setting the scene for what balances between the examination of tragic mental repercussions of war and a comedy.

What happens are a humorous mixture of who-done-it and a mystery of the missing day, the misunderstandings that might arise from telling innocent fibs, and a more serious look into common attitudes of the time towards trauma.

The main character was an Air Raid Patrol warden during World War Two and at one point had a narrow escape from a bomb blast. The confusion it caused in his life when it re-manifested itself as amnesia takes him by complete surprise.

Andrew Williams as Dr Sparling gives his professional opinion and goes some way to explaining how it could affect him mentally. In a time when there was more stigma attached to involvement with psychiatrists or psychologists, and counseling was not as freely available the writer is taking on a subject which was not very often approached at that time.

He does it in an interesting way using Major Wilson, played by Karl Moffatt to throw humour and suspicion at the situation by suggesting that there might be something fishy going on, though he is more concerned with the loss of money from his club.

Though it can be seen as a comedy many people at the time of its writing could relate to it because those around them would have been injured in the war. This brings an eerie feeling to the proceedings, nervously broken by the addition of more humour by Greg Fitch as Inspector Hemingway. Indeed Williams, Moffatt and Fitch bring a degree of subtlety to the play that saves it from getting too heavy. All three of them give good performances and the idea of piling in the minor characters to constantly add to the confusion works very well in this play.

The more sober issues of the missing money and how Preston will escape his predicament are ever present. Jeremy Todd as Mr. Petherbridge the solicitor deals with one by maintaining a sense of reality in a play which without this anchor to reality might have crumbled into a farce. But this doesn’t happen and showing a professional skepticism to the amnesia by going through his normal police procedure Hemingway also helps out.

Maddie Croft as Peggy Dodson appears near the end giving an accomplished performance to explain the whole misunderstanding.

The set was a reflection of the physical wreckage of the buildings damaged during the blitz that happened during World War Two and a metaphor for the psychological wreckage of the people who were involved in the war, traumatized or injured in any other way. There was good use made of set and props which depicted a typical middleclass semi-detached house of the period.

People may have been more used to putting up a front in those days and the façade of the ‘stiff upper lip’ compelled many to carry on regardless and try their best to ignore what had happened to them. Sam Ellis showed a man and his reactions to an adverse situation caused by past trauma which he had buried in his subconscious by trying to suppress it at the time. When it eventually affected him his initial reaction was that it was something that was not troubling to him and so he continued to fight his way through. After the whole episode was resolved we see him completely crack up, sadly still unable to fully expose his vulnerability to even his wife.

This was really a great piece of writing dealing with a tricky subject in an honest way; perhaps accidentally more relevant today in the shadow of covid and our increasing familiarity with the issues. A brilliant choice of production and a very well presented play.

HOME AT SEVEN

2nd – 20th September

Tabard Theatre, 2 Bath Rd, Chiswick, London W4 1LW

Tues – Fri 7:30pm, Sat 6:00 pm

£23.50 – £19.50 (concs) | tabard.org.uk | 020 8995 6035

BOX OFFICE