Brooklyn pensioners Joe and Elli’s retired life is invaded by Joe’s long-lost brother bringing earth-shattering news, in Daytona at the Rose Theatre.
His cold-blooded murder of a man he suspects to be their Nazi death camp captor during the war drags the brothers’ attention back 30 years and more.
A long but attention-grabbing monologue from actor John Bowe about why he shot “Gruber” dead at Daytona Beach is met with incredible indifference by ‘ordinary’ Joe.
His reaction to what seems like the beginning of a moral maze – more apathy than shock or revulsion – does not appear to make sense until you realise writer Oliver Cotton has a different, more personal story of love and treachery to tell.
John Bowe nearly steals the show in a barnstorming part, while Simpsons star Harry Shearer is content to be ordinary Joe, but Maureen Lipman seizes it back at the end in a fantastic performance.
Daytona centres around two dramatic watery moments, both described off-stage – one a powerful moment of action and revenge, the other one of failure and regret.
The set is a 1980s-style home with a TV badly in need of replacement and the couple dancing their pains away are a beautiful sight to behold.
Perhaps the script could have provided more twists and turns, and the comedy is light but Daytona deserves to be seen.
l Daytona, Rose Theatre, High Street, Kingston; until September 7; £8 to £30; visit rosetheatrekingston.org or call 08444 821556.
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