Words by India Farnham | Production photographs by Marc Brenner
Over the last three months, Bath’s locals and visitors alike have been watching on in eager anticipation as Ralph Fiennes, one of the most celebrated actors and directors of our time, has transformed the Theatre Royal Bath stage into his very own theatrical playground.
Fulfilling his wish to present audiences with both new and much-loved material, Fiennes has commanded TRB’s Main House both on and off stage throughout his stay. And he’s been well received; the season’s first production, David Hare’s Grace Pervades, is set to transfer to the West End in 2026.
And now, just as the early autumn threatens to slip away, we encounter Fiennes at work for the final time in his season at TRB as Larry (and, as it turns out, Larry’s housebound twin) in a brief and dizzying new play by acclaimed playwright Rebecca Lenkiewicz. Welcome to the dreamlike world of Holly Race Roughan’s Small Hotel.
In the play’s surreal opening, we watch as Fiennes’ Larry, a washed-up TV-show host, stumbles into the hazy no man’s land between life and death, seemingly after being stabbed in a train station. Here, among a whirling spell of old Hollywood music interspersed with haikus (all credit to Luke Halls’ enchanting video design), Larry confronts who he is, or was, through a series of fleeting connections and conversations with the people he spent his life loving.
His only companion on this fever dream of a journey? An all-singing, all-(tap)-dancing Liverpudlian bartender wearing an eye patch. We did warn you.
Whether this mysterious woman, played with an eerie effortlessness by Rachel Tucker, is Larry’s basic consciousness, a representation of the innermost unknowable corners of his mind, or perhaps even Death herself, doesn’t really seem to matter in the play’s 90-minute run. What Small Hotel is more concerned with is how the big players in Larry’s life seem to converge and overlap within the last few weeks, and perhaps moments, of Larry’s life.
First up is Larry’s mother (Francesca Annis), an unpredictable alcoholic soured by aging, whose vitriol fails to stir up much passion in Larry, even when her depression looks as if it might eclipse her.
Next up, meet Marianne, Larry’s much younger ex-girlfriend played by a brilliant Rosalind Eleazar, who swings back into Larry’s life with a palpable confidence from her successful acting career. Despite the pair having an undeniable rapport (“I saw you on a TV shopping channel selling suitcases.”/ “They were executive briefcases!”), much is left unsaid here about what Marianne might have lost in their ill-advised age-gap love affair.
Left to right: Francesca Annis as Athena, Larry’s mother; Rosalind Eleazar and Ralph Fiennes as Marianne and Larry
And then there’s Richard, Larry’s elusive twin, who is also played masterfully by Fiennes. Joining us mainly via a projected FaceTime call, Richard is boyish and eccentric, a lone wolf who has spent a lifetime in his twin’s shadow and yet still knows him better than anyone else. He’s impossible not to like.
Within all of Larry’s relationships, there are glimmers of shared experiences, shared truths, which momentarily illuminate an interdependent resilience. Paths to a place where a down-trodden Larry might be welcome are scribbled out as quickly as they are drawn. Holly Race Roughan’s Small Hotel rattles on to the sound of a tapping foot, leaving behind it pockets of joy that come and go as quickly as a haiku.
And just like that, your stay at the Small Hotel is over, just as you begin to grasp something worth holding onto. And perhaps this transience is the point. Perhaps life is just a collection of fleeting moments of perfection. Perhaps moments only become perfect in our recollection of them.
Either way, this is a thoughtful, experimental end to the Ralph Fiennes / Theatre Royal Bath Season that you couldn’t have possibly predicted. Like all good art, Small Hotel rejects categorisation and invites speculation. It’s a snapshot into what really excites some of the greatest minds working in theatre today. Catch it whilst you can.
Small Hotel is showing at Theatre Royal Bath until 18 October.