Can you put a price on happiness, beauty and love?

From Olivier Award-winning playwright James Graham (Punch, Dear England), The Standard of Living tells the astonishing story of rebel economist and member of the Bloomsbury Group, John Maynard Keynes.

Husband to ballerina Lydia Lopokova. Lover to Duncan Grant. Friend to Virginia Woolf. Keynes moves between the corridors of power in Whitehall and the intoxicating freedom of a radical circle of artists, writers and lovers – all determined to live differently.

But as markets crash, old systems crumble and Britain teeters on the edge of chaos, one question begins to consume him: what is a good life?

Alive with music, dance, desire and debate, The Standard of Living is a thrilling, funny and deeply moving portrait of a man who dared to imagine something better.

This edition was published to coincide with the world premiere production at the Theatre Royal Haymarket in September 2026, directed by multi award-winner Nicholas Hytner and starring Olivier Award-winner Rory Kinnear.

James Graham is a multi award-winning playwright and screenwriter.

His play This House gained critical acclaim, enjoyed a sell-out run at the National Theatre's Olivier in 2013 and its 2017 West End revival was Olivier-nominated. It was chosen by popular vote as the best play of the 2010's by Methuen Drama.

James created theatre history when his two plays Ink, about the early days of Rupert Murdoch, and Labour of Love, a romantic political comedy, played in theatres next to each other in the West End in 2017. James won an Olivier award in 2018 for Labour of Love and Ink transferred to Broadway in 2019, receiving six Tony award nominations.

James' play The Vote (Donmar Warehouse) aired in real time on TV in the final 90 minutes of the 2015 polling day and was BAFTA-nominated. His most recent television film, Brexit: An Uncivil War (Channel 4/HBO) is nominated for a 2019 Emmy Award.