Jab takes us back to five years ago when no theatres were open. Instead, it was staying at home watching endless television, clapping for the NHS, mask-wearing and hand washing. Against this backdrop, isolation from a married couple of 29 years slowly drives them apart and to the brink. But while it captures the period well, you want to know more about this couple on the edge. It's currently playing at
Park Theatre after its premiere run at the Finborough Theatre last year.
James McDermott's play is loosely based on his parent's lives during the pandemic. It opens with Ann (Kacey Ainsworth) and Don (Liam Tobin) watching the then Prime Minister Boris Johnson inform the nation they need to stay at home. She is an NHS worker, and he runs a vintage shop. As she is an essential worker, she has work to do, but he is forced to stay at home while his shop is closed. There's also another source of tension in that Anne brings in all the income in the household. And so we watch as the relationship goes from deriving simple pleasures in life - dancing to the music of Eurythmics or drinking wine - to the drudgery of boredom as the lockdowns drag on. By the time the vaccine becomes available, Don has become an ardent anti-vaxxer and conspiracy theorist, and Ann can't bear to be anywhere near him.
What makes the piece work well is that the fragments of scenes have you recalling the amusing and terrifying aspects of the pandemic. Knowing that the government had no coherent plan and was led by a leader with the wrong skill set makes it uneasy watching. A scene where Don goes outside to clap for the NHS is seen for what it is: an empty platitude, and it gets the biggest laugh. And because Don is only doing it to wind up his wife.
While the piece captures the frustrations and essence of the time, it seemed less successful in capturing the drama between the two leads. Instead, they feel they serve two archetypes: the noble yet undefined NHS worker and the anti-vaxxer. The scenes are too short, and often, just as you find the story getting interesting, it cuts away.
While the play captures the essence of the pandemic era, it leaves you wanting more. We get the gist of the story and a broad outline of the period. Still, we could do with more details about the characters' lives rather than scenes from a botched pandemic that claimed hundreds of thousands of lives.
Jab is at Park Theatre until 26 April, directed by Scott Le Crass.
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Photos by Steve Gregson
