Emily in Paris star Lily Collins makes her stage debut by stepping into not a French garret – or even a Roman apartment – but a flat in the Catalonian capital in Bess Wohl’s play. It is quite the entrance. Wearing a spangly jumpsuit with a sash, and missing one of her high heels, she portrays US tourist Irene, who has hooked up with Manuel (Álvaro Morte from Netflix’s Money Heist) in a tapas bar. The pair stumble in through the front door, snogging and cackling, Irene pausing to take in a view of the Sagrada Família and try out her Spanish phrases. Soon, they’re on the kitchen counter: “Olé!”
The play commences as frothy comedy, but anyone who saw another Wohl two-hander, Camp Siegfried (at the Old Vic in 2021), will not be surprised to soon encounter darker currents. Irene is younger and considerably drunker than Manuel, who also has an advantage of home turf. When she heads into his bathroom, he calmly sits, rolls up his sleeves and eyeballs the audience.
