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.
We meet them at home as they wait tensely – words skirting wide circles around both the subject and their emotions – for the arrival of someone they hope will “help them out”. The good samaritan is Tate Miller, a former classmate of Jodie with a DUI and assault charge against him.
In Lisa Spirling’s production, the impossibly awkward social gathering becomes fodder for LaBute’s typically mordant humour. It also subverts our moral quandary: the seemingly roughneck Tate is, in a magnetic performance by Morgan Watkins, a kinder and more empathic man than the one who loves Jodie so much he refuses to let her go.
LaBute can be a master at challenging assumptions, and deadly-deft with a plot twist. But the one-track narrative does him no favours here: instead of dramatic progress we get expository monologues and a repetitive discussion of the issues. Archie Backhouse is taut and haunted as Brad but it’s a struggle for Justina Kehinde to colour in Jodie – we don’t see much more of her than her pain and frustration.
Mona Camille’s design renders the cinematic quality of a second act, set in a desolated highway location. But even that ominous night-time backdrop, with death hovering in the wings – can’t sharpen its edge. With nowhere to go, the hyper-real dialogue winds in ever tighter circles that boil down to one of Meat Loaf’s most famous lyrics: he would do anything for love, but he won’t do that.
• At Park theatre, London, until 24 May
