Let There Be Love - TNT

Kwame Kwei-Armah's enjoyable new comedy has a serious message or two to impart, but (unlike his Statement Of Regret which is coming to the end of its scheduled run at the National Theatre) this sharp, humane domestic drama employs a much lighter and more amusing tone and is all the more effective for it.Elderly Alfred (who came to England from Grenada in the 60s) isn't in very good health and can't manage alone in his Willesden house. He's a cantankerous, intolerant racist who won't speak to one (unseen) daughter, and barely tolerates the other (Sharon Duncan-Brewster's Gemma). So, when they take matters out of his hands by arranging for someone to help him out for a few hours a week, he's immediately antagonistic. But, predictably, a friendship grows between the old man from the Caribbean and Lydia Leonard's new immigrant Maria, a young Pole whose lively decentness soon breaks through his belligerent exterior. It's more than a touch sentimental, but the dialogue is fast and snappy and Joseph Marcell gives an irresistible performance as Arthur — embittered, defensive, disappointed, but, underneath it all, with an unexpected capacity to enjoy what life is still left to him.
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