Review: I Love You, Now What? (Park Theatre)

Review by Sam Waite

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An unfortunate fact of life is that the world cannot stop to allow you the time needed to grieve. Your job will eventually need you back at work, your body won’t take kindly to days without food or water, and the other half of your relationships won’t cease to need engagement from you. Sophie Craig’s I Love You, Now What? explored before, during, and after a loss at 2023’s Edinburgh Fringe, and continues this examination at the Park Theatre, bringing to life a romance that struggles to overcome one partner’s inability to move past a loss.

Ava thinks her dad, John, is the most wonderful man she’s ever known, and she refuses to accept the death sentence his increasingly ill health seems to have become. Even when going home with Theo, the would-be one-night stand who becomes her long-term partner, she can’t help but mention that her dad hasn’t been well. When Theo and John eventually meet, a stroke leaves him in need of more constant support, and while Theo is more than willing to step up and help with his care, her inability to accept the inevitable, or the process it in the aftermath, threatens both her own wellbeing and the survival of the relationship.

Running at less than an hour and a half, Craig’s script is impressively varied in its tone and in the seamlessness of its shifts. No matter how disparate the emotions of any two scenes seem to be, her writing is smooth enough and her dialogue natural enough that we can immediately pick up on the mood for the new scene. A hilarious sex scene early on tells us more than one might expect about Theo and Ava, all with a handful of lines and some excellent pre-coital chat – she finds it sexy that he loves The Notebook, and literally leaps on him when he praises the scores of Hams Zimmer. How funny Now What? can be is precisely what makes it so heart-breaking – we see how blissful things can be, how happy Ava should be in an ideal world, and this knowledge makes each setback a twist of the show’s knife.

Dual-rolling both as Ava’s dad and as her counsellor, Ian Puleston-Davies holds his body, his voice, even his face differently to distinguish the characters. He does well as the counsellor, but his performance as her ailing father is heart-breaking, visibly losing control of his own movements, and bringing to life beautifully the frustration that comes with dying while not wanting to be a source of any upset. In healthier times, his performance is bright and personable, the kind of dad you’re terrified to meet but who quickly becomes a favourite drinking buddy – the scene where he meets Theo is particularly charming, his teasing questions about Theo’s perceived shortcomings revealed as a friendly ribbing and just how lovable a man he is on full display.

The father-daughter bond benefits enormously from the easy chemistry between Puleston-Davies and playwright Sophie Craig, whose own performers is a stunning display of frayed nerves and increasing desperation. A gifted comedienne, Craig feels right at home when delaying a one-night stand to quiz a partner whose name she doesn’t even know on his life story, and announcing she doesn’t normally do this sort of thing before ducking beneath the sheets with a condom in her mouth. When called on to display the unbearable grief of not just a loss, but of one you know is coming and find yourself unable to delay, her emotional turmoil feels genuine and lived-in, a heart breaking before our eyes and the numbness of life afterwards plastered across her usually expressive and bright features, replaced with a stony coldness.

Craig also has a natural and delightful chemistry with Theo himself, Andy Umerah. In the wrong hands, Theo could feel extraneous when such heavy plot beats are happening for the other roles, however this is counteracted by the sheer amount of charisma Umerah brings to the part. Whether flirtatiously encountering Ava, running into an old friend (an audience member, picked at random), or bantering with John even when he’s unable to respond, there’s an inherent likability to the actor which he infuses the character with in every moment. While the plot ensures that our sympathy is with Ava during her period of extended grieving, Umerah makes it that much easier to sympathise on both sides of their arguments, particularly because his own grief feels so genuine, if much more healthily processed. Lovable and unafraid of embarrassment, Theo’s character – and Umerah’s performance – really shine in later scenes, where he and Ava find quiet moments of reflection of what has passed, as well as taking the time to scream a few choice words into the wind.

Toby Clarke directs with assurance and understanding, knowing when characters need to be separated by space and by the minimal staging. Manoeuvring the cast around, on top of, and even through the detachable piano at the centre of Bethan Wall’s staging, Clarke and movement director Sean Hollands keep up a constant sense of momentum that lends itself well to the vignette effect of Craig’s script. Hollands also does marvellous work with Ian Puleston-Davies physicality, helping to affirm just how quickly his health has deteriorated and helping to further the distinction between his two roles.

Lighting by Pablo Fernandez Baz is deceptively simply, bathing the scenes in a soft light that’s power comes fully to life when Craig leans over the piano early on. Under those subtle lights, her eyes twinkle and it becomes all-too-easy to believe how desperately and painfully this woman adores her father, while Wall’s simple staging keeps their shared love of a music at the literal centre of the play.

A tender love story that opens up to harsh realities about the ongoing impact of bereavement, I Love You, Now What? has a powerful, deeply moving script that is elevated here by the magnetism of its three performers. Emotionally bared, and almost physically bared in the case of Craig and Umerah, this is a moving, deeply touching story that is easy to connect with, and difficult not to be moved by. While yes, sometimes we go to the theatre to escape the harshness of the world, there’s a real bravery in Now What?’s willingness to delve fully into this harshness, and to refuse to shy away from the ripples a loss can create.

I Love You, Now What? plays at the Park Theatre until August 24th

For tickets and information visit https://parktheatre.co.uk/event/i-love-you-now-what/

Photos by Lidia Crisafulli