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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Emma John

How to Fight Loneliness review – death hovers over impossibly awkward social gathering

One-track narrative … Justine Kehinde (Jodie), Morgan Watkins (Tate) and Archie Backhouse (Brad) in How to Fight Loneliness.
One-track narrative … Justina Kehinde (Jodie), Morgan Watkins (Tate) and Archie Backhouse (Brad) in How to Fight Loneliness. Photograph: Tristram Kenton/The Guardian

Neil LaBute has a good relationship with Park theatre. Two years ago, it staged a production of The Shape of Things that worthily showcased his downright disturbing comedy. Now it premieres his latest work, a contemplative three-hander about our right to choose the time and manner of our death.

LaBute was inspired to write it after losing his mother. His inability to help her out of her pain manifests itself in the story: here he fastens the dilemma he faced on the characters of Jodie, who can’t face another round of chemotherapy, and her husband, Brad, who wants her to go on fighting.

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