Eddie Izzard gives a star turn in Peter Nichols' A Day in the Death of Joe Egg, bringing a gentleness to the very stylized character of the husband in a couple who have a totally disabled daughter whom they care for. It's an odd play which unconventionally breaks the convention of the "fourth wall," and each character addresses the audience directly. Izzard gives great Fuddy Duddy as he shows us various doctors or a vicar and keeps his performance underplayed in what is actually full-out broad comedy, making this very heavy play humorous.
Victoria Hamilton as his distraught wife, Margaret Colin and Michael Gaston as their wealthy WASP acquaintances, she icy, he blustering, Dana Ivey as his mother and little Madeleine Martin as the spastic daughter, are all fine performers, and they fill the stage and the theatre with their talent. Laurence Boswell's direction on Es Devlin's fine set keeps things alive and moving. For me, though, the play would lose nothing with a bit of trimming, especially long speeches about possibilities for the child. But Izzard is, indeed, worth seeing.
