The Trick review: Study of grief becomes a mystifying muddle

What a peculiar piece of work this is. Tantalising fragments of Eve Leigh’s writing hint at a powerful and poignant study of ageing, bereavement and grief, while too much of the rest is nothing more than a mystifying muddle.

The mercifully brief 75-minute running time is amply sufficient.

There’s a loose theme of magic, of what we do — or don’t — allow ourselves to believe. It’s spun around the story of frail pensioner Mira (Lachele Carl), who has recently lost her husband Jonah (David Verrey).

Dead he might be, but he remains a constant physical presence in her daily existence, talking away to her about their goldfish.

There are fleeting glimpses of the heartbreak involved in the ending of a long-term partnership: ‘How can I be bothered to keep cooking if you go?’ says Mira plaintively.

Elsewhere, all is oddness, in an episodic structure which contains some segments seemingly entirely extraneous to the cohesion of the whole. There’s a retelling of the Isaac Bashevis Singer story The Little Shoemakers — why? — and then some audience participation involving fortune telling — why? Another interlude has the cast scoffing ice cream — why?

It is also, unfortunately, a cumbersome production from Roy Alexander Weise, with some issues of dubious audience sightlines. A reclining armchair, a coffee table and a goldfish bowl are shunted rather laboriously around the small stage by the four-strong cast and it’s all increasingly wearisome.

Until March 23 (020 8743 5050, bushtheatre.co.uk)