Review: As I Like It, Chelsea Theatre

Written for Time Out

The sort of semi-autobiographical splurge that ought never have reached the stage, Amanda Eliasch and Lyall Watson's 'reflection' is a waste of everyone's time but theirs. The sheer level of self-indulgence is utterly infuriating.

In a fabulously kitsch boudoir, a wealthy, privileged, unsuccessful actress (Justine Glenton) pours out her personal history, from the psychological traumas of her childhood to a string of failed relationships. In a cut-glass accent, she describes herself as "fragile like a broken plate that couldn't be mended", and says things like: "I don't know why I didn't like mummy." The word 'I' recurs and recurs through a mist of self-pity and loathing and the whole thing reeks of unapologetic egotism.

That might be excusable if Eliasch and Watson had found a reason for placing this woman on stage. We find out almost everything about her except her identity or why we should care. The programme notes duly confirm As I Like It as thinly veiled autobiography.

If its purpose is therapeutic, why force it on a paying public? As I Like It needs not an audience's attention, but a therapist's. It is the most extreme case of self-love's labours lost.