By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK? ***

WHEN? Monday 8 December, runs through 17 January 2026 RUNTIME 90 minutes (without interval)

A 90s house DJ discusses his cancer with the mother of their child as their 60th birthdays approach and he looks for the titular end armed with the ‘best record in his box’.

• Read on for reasons including how this is a rare chance to see this cast in an intimate setting in challenging new material

David Eldridge’s End is the conclusion of his trilogy including Beginning and Middle which explore love and relationships but you don’t have to be familiar with either of its predecessors to appreciate this story of Alfie and Julie.

You join us in summer 2016 in the north London frontroom of the couple with Clive Owen’s (The Night Of The Iguana, Noel Coward Theatre) Alfie walking with a stick and shocking partner Julie (Saskia Reeves, Slow Horses, Apple) with his end of life wishes.

This is a 2-hander with an endearing tenderness evident between Owen’s West Ham fan Alfie and Reeves’ successful writer Julie especially as she wordlessly moisturises his hands and feet to provide some comfort 5 years into his experience with cancer.

This is a couple with a grown-up daughter and a shared love of music as he contemplates the songs he wants played at his funeral yet cannot join her in dancing around the room to them because he is so incapacitated by his illness.

The couple contemplate their pasts and the way they have moved to a different part of London and whether they have changed as a result of the various successes they have enjoyed.

Eldridge foreshadows several of the major shifts in tone here which we shan’t reveal but this conversation very much takes in the secrets and lies that this robust couple are prepared to go head-to-head to debate here.

It’s occasionally funny and it’s to Owen and Reeves’ credit that what could be hugely downbeat material boasts moments that are also touching and with a universality that this audience can empathise with.

We’re here because we particularly enjoy Reeves’ work in Slow Horses and wondered whether End might be a contender for Best New Play of the year.

But we don’t think it’s quite strong enough to make the shortlist in what has been another stellar year for London theatre.

End didn’t make us cry but it did prompt us to consider seeking out Beginning and Middle and for fans of both these actors at the top of the game it’s a rare chance to see them tread the boards in an intimate setting in challenging new material.

• Main pictures via Facebook by Marc Brenner courtesy National Theatre Tickets
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