Heart Wall at Bush Theatre

As you walk into the auditorium of the Bush Theatre, you are greeted by The Sun Inn’s hanging sign. Immediately, you find yourself in a North Western boozer, where a pint costs £3.50, and the local cuisine is Smith’s scampi flavour fries. Heart Wall takes a drawing room drama and displaces it into a public house, allowing the heartbreaking story of a family wrought with grief to unfold in front of the dark wooden bar.

Before the play begins, the audience finds themselves unwitting attendees of The Sun Inn’s karaoke night, which, for those who are brave enough to, can participate in by scanning a barcode. With exceptionally enthusiastic renditions of Man! I Feel Like a Woman and Robbie Williams’s Angels, the pre-show atmosphere feels like that of a 40^th birthday celebration at The Slug and Lettuce.

Heart Wall follows Franky, a 23-year-old living in London, who has travelled back up North to visit her parents, Dez and Linda. Upon returning home, Franky quickly realises things are not as they should be between her parents. Linda is not staying at the house, and Dez seems frantic – taking boiling hot baths and being seen by neighbours going on walks at strange hours of the night.

Throughout the play, the ecstatic energy that begins pre-show is channelled into comedy. In a very The Royale Family-esque style, the characters are caricatures of Northerners – Linda apparently makes sangria for barbeques, a combination of wine and Fanta. Playwright Kit Withington cleverly uses this lightheartedness to make the tragic events that unfold throughout the play palatable. For every moment that your heart aches, the next moment you are laughing out loud.

Deka Walmsley (Dez) puts on an absolutely heart-wrenching performance. His inability to express his emotions and desperate attempt to remain stoic in the face of grief reflect a generation of men who were sadly not given the tools to process their trauma. His daughter, Franky, is played by Rowan Robinson, who embodies all the bravado, alongside the deep-rooted insecurity, so common in 20-somethings.

Sophie Stanton (Linda), Aaron Anthony (Valentine) and Olivia Forrest (Charlene) join the five-hand cast, aiding in both the comedy and the sorrow. Valentine explains a devastating event in his life over a Little Mix backing track, Linda simply wishes that she could “make a plan for two months’ time” – the performers feel like real people, with real problems, in a real pub.

Although it did feel as though the tragic reveal was dragged out for longer than it needed to be, Heart Wall tells a very human and very sentimental tale. Withington dedicates this story of parental love to her father, using the stage to explore the relationship that defines so many of our lives.