JAB by James McDermott. The Finborough Theatre,118 Finborough Road, London SW10 to 16 March 2024.

4✩✩✩✩ Review: William Russell.

“A finely written account of a marriage falling apart under the strains of lockdown brilliantly acted.”

Lockdown. Annie and Don, a middle aged couple are trapped in a 29 year old relationship that is already in trouble. Now they are simply trapped. She is suffering from the menopause, works for the NHS and can do it from home. He runs a so called “vintage” shop which cannot open, does not believe in the jabs that are being offered, both of them drink too much, and he starts to get abusive. James McDermott’s play consists of a series of tiny scenes which gradually move from drunken gaiety as they watch television and news of the pandemic through what happens as she is forced to work from home, and he stays home, his shop being closed, and the strain starts to tell on them both as she falls victim to the menopause and, always a procrastinator and never the bread winner, more a house husband, he turns into an abuser demanding sex, then is stricken by Covid and taken to hospital. Annie is left to hold the stage alone, talking to him on the telephone, knowing just how awful things are in the hospital, until the inevitable happens. The two actors are alone except for four chairs in a row – sometimes they sit side by side, sometimes, as the stresses of lockdown increase, they each sit in an end chair, a couple apart, until eventually one of the chairs is placed out of use at the side of the acting area.

Lockdown was different things for everyone – it all depended on the individual circumstances but it was undeniably like this for many people suddenly forced to spend the whole day together days on end, and the play makes painful watching. The performances of Kacey Ainsworth as Annie and Liam Tobin as Don are heart breaking. She is clearly the brighter, the realist, he is, at first, a fairly jolly bloke but underneath there is a much less pleasant side to him. Director Scott Le Crass has managed to combine what could have been scrappy moments into a cohesive whole with, for me at least, the slight irritation that all those television broadcasts they watch while knocking back the red wine and he gorges crisps are almost inaudible – you know what they are watching but can’t quite make out the words as things out there get worse and then improve after the vaccine is discovered. But Don, of course, does not believe in it and refuses to take one.

Cast

Kacey Ainsworth – Anne.

Liam Tobin – Don.

Creatives

Director – Scott Le Crass.

Set & Costume Designer – Leah Kelly.

Lighting Designer – Jodie Underwood.

Composer – Adam Langston.