REVIEW: Give Her My Love by Jake Hart at Barons Court Theatre 3 – 14 March 2026
‘A real exploration of a queer, messy heartbreak, the challenges of missing home and fear of loneliness’ ★★★ ½
Ava and Dodi are doomed. We know too well how this is going to end. Yet, somehow, as if swooped into a fantasy world, we still hope until the very last word of the play that these two will reunite and find an emotional common ground.
‘Give Her My Love’ confronts us with the difficulties of relationships, the complications when faced with the other part’s incompatible needs, and the fear of letting go, denying the possibility of being alone.
A mix of monologues and duologues told through a fractured timeline guides us in the heart of the relationship. Ava (fantastically portrayed by Dión Di Maio), loses her mother and seeks comfort in Dodi (played with delightful subtlety by Aoife Morgan Jones). We instantly fall under Ava’s spell, in awe of her bold and free nature, and charming Irish sense of humour. She feels out of place in the graceful decorum, the flowery curtain, and pink stage lights which rather reflects Dodi’s personality. She is young, in love, maybe a little naïve, but also grounded. Whereas Ava cannot stand in one place: she misses home – or maybe, she doesn’t know where home is anymore. Somehow, in this queer relationship, we recognize the same hierarchal pattern and dynamics you would find in a heterosexual couple. As society imposes on us stereotypes of genres to identify with, Ava seems to comply to masculine traits: she strings Dodi along, lies, and is incapable of expressing her feelings, or, sometimes, understanding them at all.
Overall, the material of the piece feels drawn-out in some places, especially during monologues, and confusing in others – when different characters are mentioned, for example. But the terrific chemistry between Aoife and Dión, both excelling in giving us such close-to-reality characters and portraying with impeccable truth the complexity of their predicament, leaves us wanting more in each of their gripping scenes.
Give Her My Love by Jake Hart, directed by Sorcha Harris, starring Dión Di Maio & Aoife Morgan Jones
Barons Court Theatre
3 – 14 March 2026
