Deena Payne / On Tidy Endings
Deena Payne will be starring in the UK premiere of Harvey Fierstein's On Tidy Endings, which will be presented as part of a double bill of two short plays from the Tony Award-winning author of La Cage Aux Folles and Torch Song Trilogy.
Whose loss is it anyway? That's the bone of contention between a gay man and a straight woman who meet to straighten up loose ends following the death of the man they both loved. The UK premiere of Harvey Fierstein's one-act, On Tidy Endings, is a sometimes fiercely funny, and finally poignant study of how the universal situation of losing a loved one takes on unique new qualities in the context of AIDS. To start the evening is the title play from Fierstein’s Safe Sex Trilogy, which explores a relationship under strain in the early part of the AIDS crisis.
On Tidy Endings and Safe Sex will be showing at the Tristan Bates Theatre, Covent Garden from Tuesday 22nd April to Saturday 17th May 2014.
REVIEWS:
"Payne’s Marion provides a strong emotional heartbeat to the play and is perfectly believable as the ex-wife who must negotiate her own place in the grieving process... Payne carries the audience across on a wave of humanity" - Civilian Theatre
"Deena Payne as Marion captures both the fragility and pragmatism of the understanding ex-wife" - The Stage
"Deena Payne always leaves room for Marion to be sympathetic..The interactions between Payne and de Mooi are a joy to watch, and you care about the characters so much that by the twist in the tale, you may well be blinking back the tears...he’s in safe hands bouncing dialogue off the impeccable Payne" - Entertainment Focus
"an extraordinary compelling piece of theatre, carried by the magnificent Deena Payne who gives a truly heartbreaking performance. Payne plays the ex-wife of a man who left her for another man and then passed away. Her performance was very real" - West End Frame
"Deena Payne is beautifully warm and natural as Marion" - Exeunt Magazine
"Deena Payne and CJ de Mooi sizzle, beautifully regulating each other’s performance... an exceptionally strong piece of theatre" - LondonTheatre1.com
"Deena Payne is impressively composed as the sharp-suited wife Marion" - Time Out
"Deena Payne is perfectly cast as the mother and wife" West End Wilma
"both de Mooi and Payne deliver splendid performances" - British Theatre Guide
"Payne delivers a very touching performance...instantly warm and likable, making us laugh but also moving us" - views from the gods
"Deena Payne as Marion gives a mesmerising portrait of a woman striving to do the right thing in the face of a world turned upside-down, teasing delightful humour from painful predicament" - Gay Times Magazine
