Sam Steiner’s surprisingly warm play shows what life might be like had the UK suffered an unspecified apocalypse in the 1980s.
Which is: humdrum, irritating and occasionally amusing as usual, but set against collapsing infrastructure, a poisoned atmosphere, increasing illness and sterility. James Grieve’s production could be pacier. The ordinary lives of the characters seem more real than the holocaust outside. But it’s largely acted with nuance and delicacy by the four-strong cast, and much funnier than it sounds.
We’re in the grim call centre of a company called Brightside, all flimsy desks, old-school phones and aspirational posters. Doffing their gasmasks at the door, the staff soothe the existential anxiety of callers, dissuade suicides, and discourage occasional sex pests. The dialogue is deftly overlapping. It could easily be absurdist satire, but it’s smarter than that.
The relentlessly upbeat, pregnant team leader Frances (Jenni Maitland) will be a type familiar to many. So too will grumpy Jon (Andy Rush), eternally cross that his husband made him forsake cigarettes for trombone lessons.
He’s a lone voice nagging at the optimism of Frances and the two younger characters, which they maintain even as the electrics fail and the building floods. Shout out to designer Amy Jane Cook, here, for the steadily collapsing set.
Of course, even retro sci-fi is usually a comment on our world today. In which case, it’s weirdly consoling that Steiner ends with glimmering images of hope. The title is a pop culture reference as glib as any self-help postcard, but again, strangely pleasing once it’s revealed.
Until 22 Feb (020 7407 0234, southwarkplayhouse.co.uk)
