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Islington Tribune - by SIMON WROE
Published: 27 June 2008

Lloyd Evans at the King’s Head Theatre, where his play is currently on

Writer hopes for a Wimbledon smash!

Play tells story of tennis star and her bodyguard

THE odds are stacked against an English player getting to this year’s Wimbledon tennis final, but your view might be different if you’re watching from the seats of the King’s Head Theatre.
Grand Slam, the Upper Street venue’s latest production, is the “wish-fulfillment fantasy” tennis play by Spectator theatre critic Lloyd Evans.
Mr Evans, 45, who lives near Old Street, is no stranger to the theatre – all of his three plays have been put on there.
The previous two offerings, Who’s the Daddy? and A Right Royal Farce, were collaborations with his old friend, the writer Toby Young, but this time he is in the singles game.
Mr Evans said: “I was brought up in Wimbledon. It was very uncool to be a ball boy or associated officially. We used to try and sneak in – that was the correct attitude towards the tournament.”
Grand Slam is a black comedy two-hander about a female tennis star and her bodyguard.
Islington actress Rachel Pickup, who played Helen of Troy with the RSC, and actor Sam Spruce play the pair.
The play’s director, Tamara Harvey, also helmed fellow critic Nicholas de Jongh’s play earlier this year.
Mr Evans added: “It’s about the pressure an athlete is under when the hopes and dreams of the country rest entirely on them.”
Mr Evans’s plays with Toby Young have had mixed fortunes. Critics praised Who’s the Daddy but savaged Royal Farce.
“It was getting no stars and minus stars and death stars,” Mr Evans said. “It makes you feel sick, literally sick. Having your work trashed like that slightly puts the brakes on.”
So has the panning made him kinder in his own reviews?
“Not at all,” said Mr Evans. “It’s made me even more impatient of bad writing. I feel even more qualified to hand it out. It’s good for critics to have a look over the fence.”

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