Stoppard�s funny, candid and assured mid-career comedy converts writerly conundrums into a dazzling expression of the ineffability of love. The play unfurls like a rose blooming in a laboratory. It begins with what looks like the termination of a relationship over infidelity, but this is revealed as a scene from Henry�s latest drama. The two actors - Max and Charlotte - deal with the same situation for real when Henry ditches the latter for Max�s wife. The proof of the jilters� affection, Stoppard seems to suggest, doesn�t lie in what they say or do, but in what�s left unsaid and undone. This requires actors of super-subtlety and Leveaux couldn�t have picked a better bunch. The leads are a revelation: Dillane�s droll Henry is as fastidious in maintaining an air of aloof charm as he is in choosing his words. We see the pain break through as he struggles to keep hold of Ehle�s sultry, restless Annie. It�s in the looks, the smiles, the chemistry between them, that the play�s status as a thing of beauty is confirmed.
Booking to Aug 7, Donmar Warehouse (0171 369 1732), Thomas Neal�s, Earlham St, WC2. Covent Garden tube. Mon-Sat 7.30pm, Thur & Sat 3pm. �14-�22; Fri & Sat Eve �14-�24; Mon Eve & Thur Mat all seats �14.
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