The Moderate Soprano, Hampstead Theatre ****

My first two visits to Glyndebourne this year were two of the best experiences one could wish for.  You make an effort to get to an inaccessible place to watch a supposed inaccessible art form and you appreciate it all the more for that. Your day is sacrificed in order to watch and experience a group of people, an organisation, strive for perfection in a way that you rarely see in London. This perhaps is why I took so easily to David Hare's play about Glyndebourne's conception at the Hampstead Theatre. It is a celebration of striving for excellence; the singleminded, ambitious aims of John Christie and the importance of art at it's purest. Hare manages to create a narrative of Glyndebourne's early years whilst jumping about different time gaps which in so many cases is frustrating but here goes unnoticed. It is a riveting play which keeps you hooked for the duration. Rae Smith has designed a set which shows the construction of beauty with an unfinished oil painting of the organ room with a stage being surrounded by tables and paintings off stage for action that isn't about Glyndebourne itself which Jeremy Herrin stages ingeniously. Roger Allam is, as ever, delightful to watch as the headstrong yet personable John Christie whilst Nancy Carroll is quiet yet forceful as his wife Audrey Mildmay. George Taylor, Paul Jesson and Nick Sampson are wonderful as the team who come to turn Christie's dream into reality. There is one speech which Roger Allam performs spectacularly well addressing the price of art, saying that people need to invest in the art they see 'and if it takes a whole day and wipes out their savings, so much the better'.  Whilst this argument is strong, it is an argument I fundamentally disagree with. Art does require investment but if that means that a whole section of society can't access that art, that art form becomes elitist and exclusive which is disturbing to me. It is therefore to the plays credit that I came out of this play pleased, despite this speech, and this comes down to the talent of the cast and creative team.