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High anxiety: Collapse - Riverside Studios

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It’s a brave or maybe slightly provocative production to use Hammersmith Bridge on their artwork for a show called Collapse, which is about how everything collapses—poorly maintained bridges, relationships, and jobs. Nothing works. That’s probably too close to home for Hammersmith residents stuck with a magnificently listed and useless bridge on their front door. It gets even weirder when you realise the piece is staged in what looks like a meeting room with a bar. However, keeping things together in the most unlikely of circumstances is at the heart of Allison Moore's witty and engaging four-hander, which is currently having a limited engagement at Riverside Studios . The piece opens with Hannah (Emma Haines) about to get an injection from her husband (Keenan Heinzelmann). They’re struggling for a baby, and he’s struggling to get out of bed. But he managed to give her a shot of hormones before she started worrying about the rest of the day. She’s unsure she will keep her job with ...

In a damp warm spot: Mydidae

A day in the life of a married couple, as set in a bathroom is the premise of Jack Thorne's sharp and funny play, Mydidae, currently playing at the Soho Theatre.

This classy little play on the top floor of the Soho Theatre features a fully plumbed bathroom, that  provides the backdrop for a full and frank exploration of a couple and their secrets. Actors Pheobe Waller-Bridge and Keir Charles undress, shave, lust after each other, wash and urinate in front of the audience.

Strangely enough they don't fart in front of each other which was possibly a missed opportunity as there never seems to be a better place to do that than in a bathroom... Particularly if your partner is in it...  Of course once you get past the novelty of the full frontal nudity; the tweaking of the penis, the perky tits and vagina at eye level, it is amazing how it is the intensity of the performances and the intriguing story that holds your attention.

The piece seems an innocent enough premise at first, but gradually amongst the throwaway remarks and glib references a darker story emerges of a relationship under strain. It is hard not to have admiration for the actors, particularly as they run about dripping wet and don't have much to hide behind. A bathtub for two does not seem to be the most comfortable of spaces to perform, but it certainly intimate and both Waller-Bridge and Charles maintain the focus throughout the seventy minutes of the piece.

Whether you accept the premise of so many events taking place in the bathroom during one day may influence how much you appreciate it. But it nevertheless is an original idea from Drywrite, which is a new writing theatre company that supports writers to experiment with new ideas and perspectives. Drama at the bathtub runs until 22 December.

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