Ikaria.

Park Theatre, London until December 2
Writer-director Philippa Lawford
Cast: James Wilbraham, Andrea Gatchalian
Running time: two hours, 15 minutes, including interval.

 

 

Ikaria is a Greek island famed for the longevity of its inhabitants, helped by a Mediterranean diet and plenty of sex.

For the purposes of writer-director Philippa Lawford’s eloquent, debut play, it’s also a university hall of residence where third year Simon stares out at the gym building opposite, sustains himself on Domino’s pizzas and struggles to get out of bed.

His life looks up when first year student Mia walks into his life and offers the promise of happiness.

It’s an attraction of opposites.  He is public school, she is state educated; she is driven to succeed and surrounded by friends, whereas he, like the Greek tragic heroes he is supposed to be studying, is incapable of overcoming his relationship with his father.  Mia has only a mother and is happy with that.

Aspiring playwrights are often told to avoid love stories on the grounds they are unlikely to be original.  If Lawford ever received the advice, she wisely ignored it and plays to her strength: as a relatively recent graduate, the intensity, excitement and despair of student life is fresh in her mind.

Under her direction, James Wilbraham as Simon and Andrea Gatchalian as Mia are painfully believable from the first fumbling embrace.  They are also likeably funny.  Students can laugh in recognition.  For the rest of us, it’s pleasantly nostalgic to rejoice in Tesco meal deals and reduced-price rice.

First kiss accomplished, it could be so simple, but, as in the classics, tension derives from the inability of the hero to do what we desperately want him to.

He has so much potential, but instead adopts a mantra that takes on the bitter force of dramatic irony: you cannot fail if you don’t try.

Barbara Lewis © 2023.