This series of snapshots through a couple’s life together is a softly-delivered sucker punch, packed with emotion and unexpected twists.
Abi Morgan’s play focuses on Billie and Maggie, a young dentist and his wife starting a new life in America, and simultaneously their older incarnations, life-worn and knowingly approaching the end.
The two versions co-exist on stage, their actions overlapping as the old hands the new a bottle out of the fridge, or conspiratorially passing a note across the decades. A wardrobe becomes a Narnian time machine, with the younger Maggie walking in and her 40-year-on counterpart stepping out.
The junior couple are played by Julian Newton and Jas Blackburn, the senior by Kevin Oelrichs and Mandy Kiley, with the four sliding in and out of each other’s – or rather than own – lives over the 90-minute run.
Director Ben Nash brings out the strongest performances in the straight drama, with short dance pieces that punctuate the piece feeling slightly less successful.
Oelrichs is particularly strong, with an easy chirpiness in earlier scenes giving way to a dark despair in a monologue towards the end, matching Kiley’s powerful emotions.
Newton and Blackburn have more overt drama, but Blackburn especially brings out the subtle reactions of someone fighting their feelings: the conflict of a love challenged by deceit and opportunity.
The performances make this a compelling watch, despite the challenging topics – but they also make the denouement all the more devastating.
- Lovesong continues at Norwich Puppet Theatre until Saturday 27 September 2025, tickets £12-£16.
