Theatre: A Single Act - Hampstead Theatre

“All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players” – welcome to the theatre of terror.
A single act of terrorism redefines four lives in this subtle reading of contemporary British culture.
An explosion rocks London in January 2006 leaving hundreds suffering and many dead.
Two couples react in different ways and the consequences are barely visible, yet telling.
Tom Brooke plays Scott, a scatterbrained wife-beater obsessed with Michelle (Christine Bottomley), a young girl too tolerant for her own good. He flits between shows of love and hysterical violence. Both the protector and the aggressor, his most worrying asset is his selective memory – quickly forgetting everything he doesn’t want to remember. Michelle lives in dread of his mood swings, becoming accustomed to violence as part of her life.
Their story works backwards through time ending at the focal point – the news of the bomb.
Although Scott and Michelle appear nonplussed by the national tragedy, their story evokes the themes of ignorance, fear and tolerance, each of which encapsulate our reaction to the alleged threat of terrorism.
In the other story, Neil returns home to his girlfriend Clea having experienced first hand “the dust cloud that rose up from the building”. Both are shaken, but Neil profoundly so. His reaction does not manifest itself simply but as an intolerable burden of responsibility – the kind that results in action.
He begins to lose interest in his girlfriend, leaving work and embarking on a personal crusade to remember the lost lives. For Clea, the explosion has happened and she wants to move on. For Neil, the blast is perpetual, cultural, it is happening.
Their story illustrates a frustration with individualism, anger stoked by hopelessness, and a relationship cracked not by loss of love or lust but by a clash of neglect and responsibility.
The night begins with the question ‘why?’ but the script is far too sophisticated to offer explanations or solutions. Lurking beneath is a cry for help to which we can all relate. Recommended.
020 7722 9301
Until June 11