REVIEW: TAKING A LOVE PILL AT THE END OF THE WORLD at The Hope Theatre 14 May – 1 June 2024

Heather Jeffery • 20 May 2024


‘a domestic drama, a bit old hat, but well achieved.’  ★★★

 

“I had this realisation that the world is about to end. That the fire is here to engulf us all. That our baby isn’t going to have a chance, that she never had a chance.”

 

So, there’s this couple, Igg and Tom, and she’s fallen out of love. Tom wants to persuade her to take a ‘love pill’, (it effects the hormones), prescribed by their marriage guidance counsellor. Just to up the ante, the end of the world is nigh. There’s a domestic set, a working kitchen, and over the door, a projected clock and words remind us that the end is coming which helps to add a sense of urgency.

 

The couple are very well played by Charlotte East and James Baxter-Derrington. The man isn’t hugely dynamic which plays well against the sassy woman of the house.  There is plenty of connection between them, almost an electric current which is very apt in this working kitchen, as they cook food on the stove and use the kitchen sink. These are very nice touches and the water that comes from the tap is a particularly fun element.

 

The show covers the deterioration of a marriage, but there is a sense that this wedded couple’s problems aren’t connected to the end of the world, and this is where Sam Smithson’s script falls down.  The show reveals typical marital problems, responsibilities, growing as a person and possibly leaving behind a partner who just hasn’t been developing in the same way. Leave, or stay and work it out? All this is wonderfully well done, but with the curious backdrop of what’s going on outside the door with people dying in their droves, it doesn’t stand up so well. Taking the ‘end of the world’ as a metaphor for their marital breakdown works best, but does taking a ‘love pill’ fit well with this? It’s referring to some future time when such a thing might be available.

 

Then again, a pill inducing feelings of love for your partner, does seem random, what if, like Titania, an ass turns up instead of the intended man? This is a much funnier premise (from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream). However, Smithson’s play takes itself seriously, which is fine, but the various elements just don’t quite all sit together as they should. 

 

An enjoyable watch, with two excellent actors, a set which delighted by having some working elements but it’s hardly a groundbreaking show, it’s not setting the world alight. Nothing new is being said, no real debate about the prosect of a ‘love pill’ or about the end of the world, clearly a domestic drama, a bit old hat, but well achieved. 

 

Photo credit: Bethany Monk-Lane

 

REVIEW: TAKING A LOVE PILL AT THE END OF THE WORLD at The Hope Theatre 14 May – 1 June 2024 7.45pm

Box Office https://www.thehopetheatre.com/productions/taking-a-love-pill-at-the-end-of-the-world/


writer

SAM SMITHSON

director

SAM SMITHSON

company

NOT QUITE READY

Igg

CHARLOTTE EAST

Tom

JAMES BAXTER-DERRINGTON


Reviewed by Heather Jeffery



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