Simon Ward reviews And If The Surface Tension Breaks at the Lion and Unicorn Theatre.

The title of this piece is a beautiful evocation of the fragility of life that it explores. Written and directed by David Brady, it is a slick and well-worked production, including video projection and judicious use of music and sound. The central character is Charlie, a young man trying to come to terms with the fact that the world is about to end, literally. And, as if that were not enough, he finds himself surrounded by a chorus of three – Kilo (Ben Watts), India (Kitty Evans) and Tango (Emily O’Mahony) – who take it upon themselves to force him to think deeply about the meaning of life, and his own life in particular. They seem to be characters out of time and space themselves – I found echoes here of Powell and Pressburger’s movie A Matter Of Life And Death where the celestial court passes judgment on the value of a human life. Or perhaps they are a somewhat enigmatic chorus, probing until unwelcome truths are revealed. As in A Christmas Carol, they also act as reminders, almost ghosts, of Charlie’s past.

Charlie has indeed suffered trauma in his life, and has found himself unable to trust or commit to anything or anyone. There is a memorable sequence where the chorus recreate the scenes of the first encounters between his grandparents, then his parents before arriving at what should have been his own moment to find love. We are swept up and thrilled for him, only to be as devastated as he is when he simply cannot commit. He has been let down by others so often in the past that he is terrified of doing the same thing himself. He cannot bring himself to make a promise which he fears he may not be able to keep. Nor can he escape the intrusive thoughts encouraging him not to risk further hurt. Yet, in the face of the imminent end of the world this all seems so trivial and pointless. And this, I think, is the crux of the argument – if our fears and worries seem meaningless when extinction is imminent, maybe they actually are meaningless. Because for each of us our very own extinction event is only a matter of time away, we need to get on with what we want to do and to hell with being hamstrung by fear.

There is a further playful element to this piece: as we enter the space, Brady cleverly teases us with names and numbers intriguingly displayed on a large video screen. At first sight they might look like years, although some would then be in the far future. There is also a mixture of actual names, like Simon Cowell, and descriptions – the woman shouting in Tesco, the girl in the student union. What is eventually revealed is the theory that we each have 10 thousand faces which we retain in our memories. Starting, perhaps, with the midwife who delivered us, through to family, friends and lovers as well as random strangers who happened to stick in our heads. Ten thousand faces seems like a lot, but it is not infinite. Each face is a possibility of a connection. And time is always running out.

This is a play crammed with ideas jostling for attention. Not everything finds room to breathe. And the central conceit of the three chorus members doesn’t quite work for me – I want to know who they really are and how they fit in. But is never less than intriguing and the performers work well together. A fascinating and challenging piece.

And If The Surface Tension Breaks is running at the Lion and Unicorn Theatre, 42 – 44 Gaisford Street, London, NW5 2ED until Saturday 1st March