James Graham did well to name his play The Standard of Living rather than the development and implementation of Keynesian economic theory in Britain across the twentieth century.
The play covers a vast amount of ground and time, spanning decades of Keynes’ life from his early years in the treasury during WWI, to the origins of the Arts Council of Great Britain post WWII.
From bed hopping with men across Europe, to wedded bliss with a Russian ballerina in Cambridge, it’s certainly a life well lived, but is it a play well wrought?
In the slower first half of the play, we’re presented with a weak conflict between Keynes’ fashionable artistic friends – The Bloomsbury Group – and the values of the establishment he works for.
Unfortunately, Virginia Woolf, Lytton Strachey, et al. are a smug and ever so slightly insufferable clique, obsessed with their own work and condescending towards Keynes’: you’re a civil servant with a regular salary, gosh what a loser!
Written with a modern eye, their polyamorous attachments lose any sense of the radical, in fact their alternative lifestyle reads as utterly banal in 2026.
These people are less characters, more early players in the party-political broadcast.
Thankfully the play comes alive in those movements where Keynes interacts with his wife Lopokova, and intellectual nemesis (the friendly sort), economist Friedrich Hayek.
Osipova’s West End debut warrants a ballet bouquet from the finest Covent Garden florist: she is radiant as Lopokova.
Effervescent with life when she dances and unabashed with love when she speaks, Lopokova embodies the sort of freedom that The Bloomsbury Group could only philosophise about. Perfect casting.
Kinnear and Osipova have a wonderful naturalistic chemistry, and their coupling feels as inevitable as the Great Depression – a credit to the writing and the direction.
Laurie Kynaston truly disappears into his character, presenting Hayek as a man of integrity worth reckoning with for both Keynes and the audience – he was also convincingly Austrian.
Scenes between Kinnear and Kynaston felt charged in a way that others didn’t; in a play that describes a lot to its audience, these moments felt like life was happening.
A hard task given we’re in the realms of government intervention and free market principles.
Kinnear’s turn as Keynes was as effortless and charming as you’d expect, no notes.
My fellow acolytes will likely recall his unforgettable performance in Hytner’s outstanding The Revenger’s Tragedy at The National in 2008. Those were good days.
Despite first-class performances from its leads, the play simply doesn’t give you enough time with them as characters – it’s too busy doing too much with too many people over too much time.
It was certainly interesting to learn about the origins of the Arts Council, but from where the play began to where it ended, I wasn’t sure why I went on the journey.
Towards the end, the script verged on political grandstanding, which was unnecessary given I’d gone to see a play at the theatre on a Tuesday about Keynesian economics.
It’s the equivalent of campaigning to your mum about how great you are.
In a play devoted to ideas, it’s not surprising one doesn’t warm to anyone in The Standard of Living.
In fact, when one of The Bloomsbury Group suffered a tragedy towards the close, I was utterly unmoved.
The fate of several of these characters felt like an unintentional indictment of their lives, but the play does well to never pass judgement.
It consistently values art and education, both publicly and privately. No argument here.
The Standard of Living runs at Theatre Royal Haymarket until 12 December 2026.
If you'd like to book tickets, you can visit The Standard of Living's website (linked above).
Will you be going to see the play at Theatre Royal Haymarket this year? Let us know in the comments below.
Share