BUSH THEATRE – UNTIL 16th MAY 2026
REVIEWED BY JACKIE THORNTON
4****
Karaoke classics belt out as we take our seats in the shabby but welcoming Sun Inn for Kit Withington’s tender meditation on grief, ageing and growing up, Heart Wall.
Dripping water from an unfixed roof is immediately unsettling and we know Franky’s return to her hometown isn’t going to be a jovial, fly-by visit. Withington’s writing is terrifically crafted, not a line or moment wasted as it cleverly drops the crumbs, allowing the audience to make our own deductions on this troubled family.
Rowan Robinson plays Franky like a coiled spring as she makes a surprise visit from London after a year’s absence only to find that nothing is the same. Her pet rabbit is missing, her parents are cagey and her old friends seem to have new lives. She’s needy, desperate to move on but haunted by a past of secrets that no one wants to share.
Franky’s relationship with dad Dez – Deka Walmsley is brilliant as he attempts to mask his entrenched pain – is a convincing blend of ribbing and concern while in between arguments about clothing and decluttering, Franky and mum Linda, played with world weary precision by Sophie Stanton, find time to share a precious moment singing The Pretenders hit Brass in Pocket.
Katie Greenall’s direction is well-paced, leaning into charming comic moments that affectionately send up England’s north-south divide and giving space for the talented supporting cast of Olivia Forrest as Charlene and Aaron Anthony as Valentine to shine. Forrest’s performance is knockout.
Staging by Hazel Low is understated yet powerful and the use of water to bring about the final catharsis is masterful. I won’t spoil it, see it for yourselves, and keep an eye on this rising star playwright, Kit Withington.
A tense, powder keg of honest emotion tempered with karaoke and sambucca.