Late in Alan Hollinghurst’s new novel Our Evenings, the narrator David Win, gracefully ageing doyen of the British stage, experiences one of those moments when the world is revealed to be other than he thought it was.
Rehearsals for a play – a work in translation from the German, with a French star and a Danish designer – are advancing at the Almeida Theatre in Islington. On the day of the Brexit referendum, David discovers that a cast member, another august theatrical personality, is not going to be voting Remain. From a veteran of the Avignon Festival, who declares he loves Europe and France, this is startling news.
