The death of a child is the cheapest trick in a writer’s toolbox. Bored audiences can be made to bawl with the snuffing out of a young life. The question then is not whether one cries, but whether one cries resentfully for being manipulated into feeling more than a play deserves.
This question hangs over the first production in the Royal Court’s 70th anniversary season and never quite goes away. Every parent will recognise the title from the children’s book about a daddy hare and his leveret who are locked in a cycle of mutual endearment by quantifying their love for each other in terms of distance.
No, in Luke Norris’s play, Little Nutbrown Hare does not get run over by an SUV. Rather the focus is a young couple who are expecting their first baby. Named only as Him and Her in Norris’s script they receive news after the 20-week scan that their child will be profoundly disabled.
The play’s title is not only taken from the book that many parents, including Him and Her look forward to reading to their children. (Though since a friend pointed out to me the unhealthy emotional manipulation of encouraging children to commodify love, this book has stayed on the shelf.)
The title also asks how strong can a couple’s love be when under unimaginable strain. What happens after they receive the news is impossible to write about without spoiling a crucial reveal. Better to highlight the actors Rosie Sheehy and Robert Aramayo. It is they who make the play and Jeremy Herrin’s production special. Sheehy is such a talent. Every time I see her I think I may have just witnessed one of the best performances of my reviewing career. With the equally excellent Aramayo, the performances are like watching two virtuoso musicians play the conversational and bitterly combative music of soulmates being put through the emotional ringer.
The resilience of love is a worthy subject. And the performances here are a marvel. But doubts that anything has been revealed about love remain.
Ultimately this is an evening where the acting elevates the writing. It should be the other way round.
Guess How Much I Love You?
The Royal Court
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