Heart Wall at the Bush Theatre starts as the audience arrives with a karaoke. Pub manager Valentine (Aaron Anthony) encourages people to come onto the stage to sing.
The auditorium is lively, some singing along to the popular anthems, waving arms, and I’m sure tapping toes.
As the popular pop songs fade, we meet Franky (Rowan Robinson), who has made a surprise return to her northern home from London. It’s her first visit in a year.
It quickly becomes evident that she and her parents have become skilled in deflection and avoiding certain topics.
There has been some sort of loss, and not just Franky’s pet rabbit, which has mysteriously disappeared.
Franky’s dad, Dez (Deka Walmsley), has a strange rash and takes scorching hot baths in the middle of the night. Is it a distraction or a punishment for some deep-rooted guilt?
Her mum, Linda (an excellent Sophie Stanton), avoids Dez by staying away from home, but Dez doesn’t seem overly alarmed.
And Franky seems to have swapped avoiding her parents for avoiding her new life in London.
Rowan Robinson does a good job in portraying a young woman who is grasping for a direction while looking down on those who seem to have found it.
Franky’s sensible and seemingly content friends, Charlene (Olivia Forrest) and Valentine, serve to emphasise Franky’s discomfort and disappointment with her own life. And that doesn’t improve her behaviour.
The family’s local pub forms an impressive backdrop for the play. Valentine seems to be the only working member of staff, but elderly landlady Eileen is a regular topic of conversation, even if she never ‘comes downstairs’.
Heart Wall has a slow build before it gives any clues or answers to what this family is tiptoeing around. Maybe a little too slow.
Conversations don’t always lead anywhere, and there are a number of loose plot points.
What has happened to Franky’s relationship in London? Is the company she works for so accommodating that she can keep extending her stay at home without repercussions? Or has she been sacked?
Why does her dad want to see Eileen in the middle of the night, all the time? And why does no one put a bucket under the drip from the leaky pub roof?
It feels like unnecessary padding obscuring a more interesting storyline about grief and belonging.
Final thoughts
Heart Wall is well-acted and has an interesting story of a family disintegrating, but it does start to feel a little stretched. I’m giving it ⭐️⭐️⭐️.
Heart Wall, Bush Theatre
Written by Kit Withington
Directed by Katie Greenall
Cast: Aaron Anthony, Olivia Forrest, Rowan Robinson, Sophie Stanton and Deka Walmsley
Running time: 1 hour 40 minutes
Booking until 16 May; visit the Bush Theatre website for more details and tickets
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