“’Rich irony’ ... you’re
such a ponce.”
It was cracking the flags outside on Greek Street, but even
with the Soho Theatre’s very effective aircon, this play was one to make the
audience sweat. In the after-show Q&A the actors explained how the same
moments that generate gasps from their audience sometimes produce
laughter… the narrative sits on an
exhausting knife-edge of uncertainty.
The One is an exceptionally well written play in which the
two main characters swap lines like Spencer Tracey and Katherine Hepburn in a
very modern way – Kate never asking her man to “rape” her for a start. It’s a dom-rom-com with the dominance shifting from he to her and back again.
Harry and Jo are in a long-term relationship and we’re never
clear who wants out and who is just clinging on; at various points it’s both or
neither. John Hopkins is superb as the thirty-nine year old English Literature
academic often at a loss for words in endless competition with Jo, pitch-perfect
Tuppence Middleton, a former pupil of wicked tongue and fearless phrasing, ten
years his junior. Both on the verge…
Jo’s sister is about to give birth and it’s going to be a
long night. Jo checks her phone in a deadpan way warily enthused about her
sister’s entry into the next stages of adulthood – pressure on or pressure off,
she’s at the stage in life where she has to stick of twist. She appears
detached from her partner as she watches TV and flicks Wotsits into her mouth
to create some interest as he works away behind her making love on the couch.
 |
| Tuppence Middleton and John Hopkins (Photo Jonny Birch) |
I’m no expert but Wotsits are not the food of love and in
the first of many dizzying about turns, they reveal a couple using humour, sex,
violence and anything they can lay their hands on, to mask their biggest
question: should they carry on.
As Jo’s sister waits for Baby Godot, her friend Kerry (Julia
Sandiford) is also having the biggest of nights as she splits up with her
partner, Bradley, and comes looking for help from Jo and Harry – also a close
work colleague. There’s a lot unsaid between Kerry and Harry and Jo mocks her
for suggesting that Bradley forced her into sex, when he knew she didn’t
consent; even though as Jo says, Kerry made no mention and relied on the
indications of body language.
Vicky Jones, co-creator of Fleabag, writes these moments so well and, naturally
enough, some are based on personal experience and the fine lines between yes,
no and grudging obligations.
Kerry’s febrile sensitivity makes Harry and Jo seem coolly
mature and having pushed her back out into the night, they seem surer of
themselves, but without the emotional triangulation provided by their distressed
friend, they soon fall in on themselves.
The night passes on, the cast members moving the hands on a
large clock and pouring litres of red wine off the side of the stage… This is a
long-night of the soul and we are at no point certain of the outcome.
 |
| Julia Sandiford and John Hopkins (Photo Jonny Birch) |
Jo tries to goad Harry into sexual violence and you feel he
undoubtedly has the capacity – when he checks this is what she really wants you
feel he means it… he can’t beat her for words, but he knows he can physically.
This leaves the audience uncomfortable and adds an element of risk to Jo’s
ceaseless challenges.
Kerry returns and really ups the ante… her honesty and
vulnerability so at odds with the multi-layered bonded conflict between her
friends yet she’s a catalyst for a deepening of their game of truth or dare.
Theirs is a universal struggle both to communicate and the
evaluate. There are so many levels on which they are perfectly attuned yet so
many more where they are not. Do you love the one you’re with or step outside
for the one you can’t be sure even exists? It’s fear versus hope and the
ticking time-bomb of the next big birthday… last chance or no chance?
Tuppence Middleton and John Hopkins truly convince with astonishing, fearless performances: we
were glad of the Q&A to talk through our own issues … It was like watching
two athletes warming down knowing they have to go again for the next round
(this was the matinee); the measured intensity of people who work out most of
the day and every day.
I should also mention that Mr Hopkins has a fine baritone as
revealed in the karaoke as he sings The
Music of the Night from Phantom…
will the mask slip? Go see it and find out, if you dare!
Ithankyou Theatre
Rating: **** This is a very
intelligent, visceral play that reaches out to the audience. It will leave you
questioning not only the ending but yourself… we’ve all been in relationships
like this and some of us may very well still be…
The One runs at the Sogo Theatre until 25th August,
tickets are available from the Box Office and online.