On a cruise, Peter (Reece Shearsmith) and Debbie (Amanda Abbington), married for twenty years, meet loudmouth American Elsa Jean Krakowski (Frances Barber), and foolishly give her their e-mail address. Back home, an email arrives from Elsa, followed by Elsa herself. And when Debbie googles their house guest and turns up some hair-raising evidence, their good nature is challenged as never before. What kind of danger have they allowed to take up residence in their spare room? And can they bring themselves to say anything about it? Sometimes, the truth is just too impolite.
‘The Unfriend’ is a play written by Steven Moffat (‘Sherlock’/’Doctor Who’/’Press Gang’/’Coupling’) based on a story told to him on holiday by an old friend [in the programme he claims that the first 20 minutes or so are true, with his friend managing to extricate himself from the situation before the social disaster seen in the play developed], which takes an entertaining and satirical look at middle-class England’s disastrous instinct always to appear nice. The director was Moffat’s ‘Sherlock’ co-writer, Mark Gatiss, and all three principals (who have all worked closely with either Moffat or Gatiss before) were wonderful. The script was hilarious being very reminiscent of the clever dialogue of ‘Coupling’, and I laughed all the way through. The supporting cast, including a favourite of mine, Michael Simkins as an unnamed neighbour (as Peter can’t remember his name due to his being so boring), as well as Gabriel Howell and Maddie Holliday as the couple’s children, and Marcus Onilude as an unfortunate Police Officer, were also first-rate. Highly recommended.
Rating: 
‘The Unfriend’ runs at the Minerva Theatre in Chichester until 9th July 2022.
Production Website: https://www.cft.org.uk/whats-on/event/the-unfriend
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