Review: BLISS by Fraser Grace at Finborough Theatre 17 May - 11 June 2022

‘a piece that carries important themes of enduring love, suffering and trauma, loneliness, and the lasting scars of war’ ★★★ ½ 

Adaption is the sincerest form of a writer’s flattery. Bliss is the play written by FRASER GRACE as an adaptation of a lesser-known Russian writer, Andrey Platanov’s short story, The River Potudan.

There is something about timing for this play: This show was produced two years after it was initially scheduled due to a pandemic. The story, which takes place after the Russian Civil War, in 1921, is performed soon after Russia becomes an aggressor and starts a war against Ukraine, in 2022. A young man finds the love of his life too early to be ready to be a husband to her.

Nikita (JESSE RUTHERFORD) returns to the lovely Lyuba (BESS ROCHE), a medical student with passion and intellect, and it becomes clear that he loves her. And she loves him. Unfortunately, life is not so simple. Especially not in the embers of a blood-soaked war.

Historian Antony Beevor’s recently published history of the Russian Revolution spells out the horrific experiences of the century-old civil war. It might provide a deeper context to why Nikita, a role executed with precision by Rutherford, trained as a joiner, returning as a traumatised soldier, cannot quite shake his experiences, even in the delicious throes of requited love. This aspect is not in the scope of the play, but clearly the play is informed by those events.

Superbly performed by all, the women in this play had the fortune of the most humourous lines. The character Paulina (CAROLINE RIPPIN) was an especially laudable caricature of an ageing rural wife, after playing a youthful contemporary of Lubya, adding flare to the slower-paced second act. The tramp (JEREMY KILLIK), possibly an alter ego, is menacing and memorable.

Wooden pallets and crates supply a surprisingly emotive setting; the sparsity and hollowness speak volumes. Yet, the set changes become slightly onerous over time and seem to add to the duration of an already lengthy play. Something about the costumery, the set and props and the lighting effectively gives a visceral sense of the pungent, even the repulsive. A spirited highlight of the piece is the delightful music composed by MICHAELA POLAKOVA.

This is a piece that carries important themes of enduring love, suffering and trauma, loneliness, and the lasting scars of war. Clearly, Grace's admiration for Platanov's work comes out in these haunting characters. He does them justice in his play. Yet, this is a slow burn and, despite all the wood on stage, finishes without a potent enough fire at the end.

Photos by Jack Sain

BLISS by Fraser Grace

Finborough Theatre

17 May - 11 June 2022

Box Office https://finboroughtheatre.co.uk/production/bliss/

Performed by Jesse Rutherford, Bess Roche, Patrick Morris, Caroline Rippin, Jeremy Killick

Directed by Paul Bourne

Sound and Music Composition by Michaela Polakova

Design by Paul Bourne

Reviewer

Mariam Mathew is an alumna of Guardian critic Mark Fisher’s theatre criticism course and an aspiring playwright.