Myself and my friends R and J are big Donmar Warehouse fans (we are lucky enough to be Friends of the theatre, so get priority booking- very useful for a tiny theatre which usually sells out quickly). ‘Belleville’ was exactly the kind of play we like- a romcom-type set up where things slowly start to unravel. The beautiful young American couple seemingly living the expat dream in Paris… but of course, they aren’t.

I enjoyed the buildup of the story, the gradual development of the characters and the slow realisation that all was not as it first seemed… I would have liked a bit more of the background story but the Donmar generally goes for short punchy plays and this was no exception.

The only thing that upset us was – in the final scene, there’s a short conversation in French of which we could only understand snippets. I daresay it wasn’t crucial to the play, but it would have been nice to know what was being said!

Overall: An enjoyable evening’s theatre; but if you’re not a fluent French speaker, take one with you or be prepared not to understand the final scene!