Phoebe Eclair-Powell’s disturbing new play is defined by dislocation. It is in the way she overlaps the dialogue in the fractured exchanges between her three central couples: Abi and Mark, the student lovers; Lil and Tony, several times married; and Naomi and Frank, the generation in between. The conversation switches abruptly from one pairing to another, echoing, interrupting and never settling for long.
It is also in the way Eclair-Powell plays with time. The movement is broadly chronological, starting with a new year’s kiss at the dawn of 1994 and moving to the present day through marriage, childbirth, illness and pandemic isolation. But time is also fragmented, with the story looping back and forth to show parallels and expose secrets.
