Review: DIVERSIFICATIONS by Natalie Ekberg at The Old Red Lion Theatre until 2 July

‘Ekberg ambitiously looks at three complex relationships’ ★★★

What men and women expect of each other is a key theme of Natalie Ekberg’s DIVERSIFICATIONS. The story charts at least three separate timelines. A year ago, Pamela, Samantha and Corinna meet by chance in the waiting room of a genetic testing centre. But the doctor is delayed, and the women have time to get to know each other.

In the present their respective male partners Juan, Alan and Patrick meet in a pub: we learn that all three of their partners eventually decided to leave the genetics centre without getting the results of their tests. They chose instead to approach their lives without knowing the statistical risks they faced, but each tragically went on to die of cancer.

The men feel various shades of betrayal given that the test results were ignored. From here, the story charts how they retrospectively confront their relationship failings to try to find some measure of peace and forgiveness.

Ekberg ambitiously looks at three complex relationships in a relatively trim running time. Failures to communicate, an imbalance between childcare expectations and career ambitions along gender lines, unfaithfulness and depression all factor into the story in compelling ways. But given that a 70-minute play could easily have been dedicated to just one of these couples, there’s a recurring feeling of rushed storytelling as all points of view jostle for attention. We’re often missing a sense of deeper interrogation of these characters’ lives.

The play specifically sells itself as a “back and forth of opinions” and as a result there’s a lack of weightier dramatic decision-making to propel the story. Patches of conflict are sometimes resolved too quickly as the play targets the next plot point, or the discussion of opinions is prioritised without meaningful change or resolution.

A certain gender parity is sought in presenting these relationship discussions, but we’re invited to sympathise with three men who immediately come across as self-centred and unable – or perhaps in truth unwilling – to see things from their partners’ point of view. The issue about the women choosing not to receive their genetics results is the driving controversy of the story but it seems likely these relationships were doomed either way: there’s little to suggest these men deserve these women.

Playing with time on-stage is a tricky proposition especially on this scale. Ekberg’s separate time periods are presented simultaneously on stage with lighting cues picking out the active scene. There are the men in the pub in the present and the women in the genetics centre waiting room of the past, as well as separate flashbacks showing prior moments of drama between each couple. Story beats that seem to cross between the pub and the waiting room are more problematic: it’s not clear whether we’re perhaps hearing inner voices or versions of what the characters wanted to say to each other. Perhaps the ambiguity is the point, but it ends up as a distraction of form rather than a compelling narrative construct.

DIVERSIFCATIONS is an intriguing overview of some of the different opinions that drive wedges into relationships. But the number of characters involved means the story feels like a summary of six disparate individuals that only manages to tease greater depth.

Images: Ross Kernahan

DIVERSIFICATIONS

The Old Red Lion Theatre

17 June - 2 July 2022

Box office: https://www.oldredliontheatre.co.uk/Diversifications.html

Creative team

Performers: Kaara Benstead, Jermaine Dominique, Alvaro Flores, Sariya Steyl, Janine Wood and Nick Morrison-Baker

Writer: Natalie Ekberg

Director: Jess Barton

Producer: Kaara Benstead

Set Designer: Constance Villemot

Lighting Designer: Beth Bains

Reviewed by Nick Goundry