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Brutal however essentially so, Philippa Lawford’s Ikaria is a stark and sobering watch on the Old Red Lion
“You just stayed in your room”
Student hook-ups in halls of residence are nothing new and in so many circumstances, nothing significantly particular. But as Simon and Mia join over heat lager and makeshift ashtrays in his dorm room, we shortly confirm that not every part is sort of alright right here. She’s a fresh-eyed first 12 months however he’s a 3rd 12 months redoing a 12 months on account of glandular fever as he explains and although they make a cute couple, it’s removed from the one approach wherein they’re on such completely different paths.
Philippa Lawford’s play Ikaria explores the journey of this pair over the course of a semester and covers multitudes even inside these few brief months. Her enthusiasm for uni life is unbridled and contrasts strongly with Simon’s worldweariness, she’s all about writing for the coed newspaper while he’s struggling to get on together with his dissertation and looking out in the direction of residence, her state college schooling has ready her for all times in a vastly completely different approach to his prep college.
We quickly come to understand that it’s one thing extra than simply chalk and cheese between them although, the looming spectre of despair is one which haunted Simon within the latest previous and remains to be shaping his life now. And what Lawford does so skilfully is to depict the sluggish burn of Simon’s return to unhealthy habits and Mia’s rising realisation that every one is significantly not properly, and that her personal life experiences won’t essentially equip her for coping with this example, a lot as she desires to assist.
The play is blessed with two sturdy performers in James Wilbraham and Amaia Naima Aguinaga, in a position to slip into the convenience of nervous younger love with actual dedication, even circumstances are pulling them aside. But it’s Lawford’s route that actually stands out, making daring choices to intensify the depth of the subject material as psychological well being, self-harm and extra creep insidiously into the body. Laurie Blundell’s sound design additionally expertly immerses us within the chilly, harsh actuality of this world, absolutely conscious of its needed energy.