You can hear this play before you enter the auditorium. Inside, a karaoke session is in full force with audience members blasting out Friday night pub bangers on stage. The singing resumes when Kit Withington’s family drama begins, with karaoke as the glue that binds together characters at emotional odds with each other.
Several of them are at odds with themselves too, including Franky (Rowan Robinson), who drops into her parental home in a north-west town in the opening scene. Her life is in London now, with a boyfriend and job that prove she is moving on. This town hasn’t done the same and neither have her parents since a tragedy more than two decades ago. Her father, Dez (Deka Walmsley), is behaving oddly, still seemingly overwhelmed by grief and guilt, while her mother, Linda (Sophie Stanton), is seeking happiness elsewhere.
The centre of the story is unprocessed grief but other things emerge, including a mystery surrounding Franky’s sister, which does not feel resolved enough by the end despite a final confessional scene between father and daughter. The rift between her parents is underexplored too, as is the state of Dez’s health – is his behaviour down to grief or a medical condition? Franky’s friend Charlene (Olivia Forrest) and the pub manager Valentine (Aaron Anthony) remain vague, generic figures.
Under the direction of Katie Greenall, there are some deeply felt moments of emotional revelation and stillness but the pacing is uneven, and it is slow in spite of so much concentrated story. The script jumps into moments of intensity and out again abruptly. But Hazel Low’s hearty pub set design is a lovely replica of the real thing, and the karaoke framing brings warmth and musical energy.
Ultimately, Heart Wall bites off more than it can chew in well under two, interval-free hours. With more space, maybe more karaoke, this play could do justice to the drama at its big, aching heart.
At Bush theatre, London, until 16 May
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