Right Now, theatre review: Twists and turns until the very end

French Canadian actress/writer Catherine-Anne Toupin manages to make this a continually and intriguingly destabilising 80 minutes, says Fiona Mountford
A complex nexus of inappropriate psychosexual relationships: reality and fantasy start to bleed together in Right Now
Fiona Mountford1 April 2016

It's an all-too-rare theatrical experience to realise that you don’t know where a drama is heading and to remain surprised until the very end. Yet this is the valuable trick that French Canadian actress/writer Catherine-Anne Toupin manages to pull off in these 80 continually and intriguingly destabilising minutes.

Young couple Alice (Lindsey Campbell) and Ben (Sean Biggerstaff) have just moved into a slick new flat; while the surface of their lives looks enviably calm, tidal waves of emotion are heaving underneath. They are grieving, but not in unison, the death of their baby, and their overbearing neighbours, a husband, wife and grown-up son, are eerily insistent on getting too close, too soon.

There blossoms a complex nexus of inappropriate psychosexual relationships between the two families. Reality and fantasy start to bleed together so convincingly that we don’t know where one stops and the other starts, although Toupin cleverly only allows us to realise in retrospect that our perspective is being jiggered with. It’s tautly directed by former RSC supremo Michael Boyd and I was particularly struck with the work of relative newcomer Campbell. She shows how Alice is subtly attuned to the changing vibes around her, but is also constantly disorientated by grief. Right now, this is one of the classiest fringe offerings going.

Until April 16, Bush Theatre (020 8743 5050, bushtheatre.co.uk)

Latest theatre reviews

1/50

Follow Going Out on Facebook and on Twitter @ESgoingout

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in

MORE ABOUT