"'What the fuck is he doing in Bruges`"
In 1995 Simon Gray wrote and directed "Cell Mates". The play is essentially a two hander and he seemed to have landed the dream team of Rik Mayall and Stephen Fry for the main parts. Alas, after reading the first reviews (to the consternation of colleagues, friends and family who feared the worst) Stephen Fry left the production (and indeed the country) without warning. The play closed soon after.
Fans of Simon Grays play diaries (and there should be many) will know that Gray worked on the verge of a nervous breakdown at the best of times and so his anguish, so perfectly expressed here, is hardly surprising. Fortunately for us all, for expiation and (I assume) revenge Gray dipped his pen in acid and wrote this account.
This particular dish is not always served cold (see quote above) but it is delicious (did someone say "schadenfreude"?) and there is some wonderfully cool writing; in answer to his own question set out above Gray writes;
"a beautiful city, fine restaurants. And a lot of Belgians who share Stephen's appetites, which would make him feel that he was in congenial company, I suppose. Dining in his gastric peer group. I made an enraged peroration along these lines......possibly unfair to Stephen, who might, for all I knew, have gone to Bruge for its spiritual sustenance - its cathedral, say, its small religious sanctuaries."
Ouch.
Simon Gray died earlier this year. As Stephen Fry might say "Bless you. God Bless you."
Link to Goodreads review
Words used to describe the book:
revenge, self absorbed rant, vituperative, intense, excruciating, bitter
Marks out of 10 - between 6 - 9
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Do No Harm by Henry Marsh
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