This two-hander about consent, abuse and the doubt cast over women’s testimonies is magnetically minimalist. Lauren (Michelle Monteith) tells us that Luke (David Patrick Flemming), who enters the stage beside her, will tell her story. Later, we find out that she is a journalist, and so perfectly capable of telling it herself. Yet the telling is ceded to Luke.
It begins with a newspaper assignment for a case of domestic abuse. She speaks to the survivor, the perpetrator and the company boss who re-employed the latter despite his assault. The experience sends Lauren to her own past – traumatic memories of being sexually violated and raped by a family member. Cleverly directed by Christian Barry, there is tension and horror. You lean in and listen. Lauren looks on as her story is narrated by Luke, her face registering the shocks.
