Rev Stan's Theatre Blog

Jab, Park Theatre. Photo: Steve Gregson

Five years on from the start of COVID, that time seems both like another life and yet sharply familiar in James McDermott's play Jab.

It's long enough ago that we can at least laugh about it. Boris Johnson's gaffs, dodgy haircuts and Barnard Castle all become amusing quips.

But it's recent enough to still capture the fear and divide: The rising death toll, lockdown challenges and the safety of the vaccine.

Jab is COVID told through a domestic lens. Anne (Kacey Ainsworth) works for the NHS, and her husband Don (Liam Tobin) has a shop that doesn’t make any money and is more of a hobby than a business.

Their kids have grown up and flown the nest, and they are generally content. They laugh together, playfully poke fun and occasionally dance around the living room. 

But the extraordinary situation puts pressure on their relationship heightening long standing niggles into bigger grievances.

Anne is the breadwinner. Don doesn’t do much now that his shop's closed, and that’s a source of tension, as is Don's sexual appetite and Anne's lack thereof.

Performed with a mix of finally tuned rapport and tension between Kacey Ainsworth and Liam Tobin, bickering turns into barbs, arguments into rows, particularly when Don's attitude towards vaccines is factored in. It becomes a primary source of divide – and drama.

Jab mines a lot of what it was like for ordinary people during COVID in its 75 minutes. It's a rich topic, as the play proves, and in some ways, it highlights the many other stones left unturned. (Plenty of material for theatre-land to mine in coming years.)

It also packs a lot of domestic and relationship issues into its running time – sex in middle age, menopause, financial responsibility, masculinity and even a suggestion of abuse. These are all potentially meaty topics to introduce but don't get the same level of attention.

With a great soundtrack of Eurythmics songs, Jab is a play that starts bubbly, fun and funny but gradually gets darker. As a spotlight on the COVID lockdown, it is a sharply perceived slice of comedy drama. I'm giving it ⭐️⭐️⭐️ and a half.

Jab, Park Theatre

Written by James McDermott

Directed by Scott Le Crass

Starring Kacey Ainsworth & Liam Tobin

Running time 75 minutes, no interval

Booking until 26 April; for more information and to buy tickets visit the Park Theatre website.

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Retrograde, Apollo Theatre booking until 14 June ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️