Testament Review

Hope Theatre, Islington – 28 and 29 October 2018

Reviewed by Antonia Hebbert

4****

Intense things come in small packages. Sam Edmunds’s play is a fast-moving 55-minute exploration of grief and denial that confidently combines extremes of emotion with enough light-touch comedy to keep it all bearable.

The set consists of the hospital bed where Max (Nick Young) is a patient. In sequences that move briskly between reality and the storm in his damaged brain, we learn that he was in a car crash with his girlfriend Tess (Hannah Benson). She has been killed, and he has tried to commit suicide. Tess ‘appears’ to Max as he tries to understand what has happened; more surprisingly so do Jesus and Lucifer (David Angland and Daniel Leadbitter, both very cool and commanding), to argue the case for and against re-engaging with life. Jolly flashbacks to the past are interspersed with agonizing moments of brain overload inside Max’s head, powerfully conveyed by sound (William Harrison) and lighting (Sam Edmunds). Things get more complicated when we learn that Max’s devoted brother Chris (William Shackleton) was also involved in the accident.

The energy of Nick Young and all the youthful cast in the tiny, in-your-face space of the Hope Theatre made this a joy to watch. It was very competent and entertaining despite the dark material. No spoilers, but I found myself slightly feeling slightly short-changed by the direction that the play took. It touched on the question of how you deal with guilt after a death, but the main focus was on grief and denial. That’s interesting, but there is maybe a much more challenging play to be written here.