Otto is an anxious, ageing vicar so lonely that he talks to walls and touches brickwork to feel its warmth. Mouthy young Jonah carries grief in his heart, birds in his head and the future in the shopping trolley he pushes in front of him. The two men encounter each other in a garden in a south-coast seaside town, a place that is definitely no Eden. Over 24 hours they have a profound effect on each other.
Robert Holman’s compassionate, troubling play was first seen at the Royal Exchange in Manchester in 2008 and its London premiere is deeply deserved. This is a play in which two people simply talk to each other, but never at each other. It is full of words but there is no chat, every word counts. Nothing appears to happen, but everything changes. This is writing like a depth charge sending out ripples from its quiet explosive centre as it confronts the big questions: how can we live in a world where there is no God, and no Devil either? How do we deal with our anxieties and griefs? How can we be painfully honest and brave with each other so we don’t end up tip-toeing through our own lives? It is a play full of doubts.
Tim Stark’s production responds to the graceful simplicity of the writing. The performances are memorable: Peter Egan’s Otto is like an onion, gradually unpeeling himself – a performance of braided intricacies, unshowy and generous. It feels genuinely lived, as we gradually see this man, literally, stripped bare. Alex Waldmann is terrific, too, as the angelic and devilish Jonah, capturing the desolation that lurks behind the unnerving facade of alternating charm and aggression. Love, suggests Otto, is paying attention. Holman has paid attention to his characters and their hearts, and it shows.
• Until 23 November. Box office: 020-7870 6876. Venue: Park Theatre, London.
