A deeply felt and scrupulously detailed performance by Kate Fleetwood anchors the UK premiere of Lindsey Ferrentino’s topical play, first seen in a 62-seat venue in New York in 2015. Fleetwood is ex-soldier Jess, a veteran of three tours in Afghanistan, now shockingly disfigured and trying to inch her way back into civilian life.
Jess receives a cutting-edge treatment that uses virtual reality to manage her pain, and as a disembodied voice showers her with platitudes Fleetwood make her psychological scars as vivid as her physical ones. Even putting on her special VR goggles causes her to grimace. But in the midst of her distress there are flashes of humour, and the main strength of Ferrentino’s writing is an ear for crabby wisecracks.
As the space shuttle programme closes down near Jess’s Florida home, we see the barren mundanity of small-town lives — typified by awkward ex-boyfriend Stevie (Ralf Little) and Kris Marshall’s amusingly indolent Kelvin, who’s dating her chirpy yet anxious sister Kacie (Olivia Darnley).
Staging the play in this large and generously resourced space allows designer Es Devlin to create a rich tapestry of imagery. The curved set fills up with Luke Halls’s striking projections, and Jess’s therapy involves introducing her into a handsomely realised snowbound wilderness where she’s distracted from her agony.
Arts picks of the week: 27th February - 5th March
But the piece itself is too small for this stage. The relationships are thinly drawn, and in Indhu Rubasingham’s sensitive production the domestic scenes look lost. While Fleetwood impresses and the medical possibilities of VR are suggested with plenty of big-budget flair, this 90-minute show doesn’t in the end feel sufficiently dramatic or incisive.
Until June 6 (020 7452 3000, nationaltheatre.org.uk)
