Taut and distraught we are present for a confrontation. What does this young woman want? Who is the man she has called Ray and yet is known as Peter. Perfectly placed in the theatre of KXT broadway where both the audience and the actors play in a space where there is no way out. Designed as nowhere (placing the actors as Australians worked on the whole) the staging keeps us tightly located and almost trapped to the bitter end.
Una has come for revenge. For a truth that can only become clear between them. From the then to the now. He was 40. She was 12. Ray explains he is someone else now, having moved on from the one time only mistake in judgement. 15 years have passed. Audience becomes a jury as the facts unravel in a retelling reveal. Edge of the seat style and breathtaking, breath holding summations.
Where can our allegiance lie, it can only be with Una. She is the victim here. But, like Una we must listen to his story. “Listen to me” he begs, he demands. Always conscious of being in the wrong place again. Being judged or discovered. He has a new name and a new life. Una is now his tormentor and he might be the victim. The room is turned around.
There is too much to reveal and I loved the writing, if at times overwritten to tell all in a just over 90 minute avalanche of details. The audience is the detectives reading into every nuance what is the truth. Powerfully delivered, we believe them both. The past cannot be undone and will ultimately affect the present.
Content warnings are rightly placed, but should not stop you seeing this play. About abuse, trauma and complex relationships but this is after all a Laurence Olivier Award winning play by Scottish playwright David Harrower that will challenge us all. Hurt, heart, temptation, action, regret, desire, the need to be loved. The past, the present and the future.
Directed by Pippa Thoroughgood, with performances from Charlotte De Wit (Una) and Phil McGrath (Ray).
HER Productions in association with bAKEHOUSE Theatre Co
25th June – 5th July 2025 – KXT on Broadway
Image Credit – Ravina Jassani
Image Credit Socials – @ByRavyna
Approx. 75 minutes, no interval
Strong themes. Recommended for mature audiences.
