In a domestic living room with simple furniture a personal drama is played out. The room is suggestive of a universal space, this could be any flat with a photo, books, coats hanging by the door.
Its inhabitants are ‘Her’, played by Reba Ayi-Sobsa, who is feisty and challenging, getting the most laughs in a play which is only funny in parts. ‘Him’ is played by Ivan Oyik who achieves the feat of being both in control and baffled by his relationship and his life.
This is a superb performance by these two actors who fill the stage with meaning and nuance, every movement reflects their connection. They are both distant with each other and intimately connected in everything. They love each other with lust, admiration, but also anger.
They are fighting to make life better while attempting to handle a bereavement we have glimpsed in a brief hospital scene at the very beginning of the play. We are now seeing two people conduct a relationship with a lot of past, but maybe not much future. It is a coupling full of fun and love, but also bile and recriminations. It is by turns sexy, funny and disturbing. The events are not monumental: will she get pregnant, will she recover from depression and go back to work, what does he do about his job? It is the relationship rather than its landmarks which give the piece its quality.
They are in love but also constantly in battle, at one time literally sparring with fists raised. They are often wrestling with Him literally lifting Her up in balletic action. Their ecstasy is evident, he says ‘I would fall backwards into you’ but with an evocation of sadness, she asks him to ‘Fuck the disappointment out of me.’ There are also the insults, ‘You sound like a symphony of breaking glass,’ ‘A reply hasn’t fallen from the hole in your face.’ The staccato retorts between the characters echo the tangible visual action between them to draw us in to the mayhem of their lives.
The script, written and directed by dkfash (using lower case instead of capitals is a theme) veers between the poetic and the vulgar. It’s title, ‘by their fruits’ is a Biblical quotation which continues in the original with ‘shall ye know them,’ taking the play into a mythical sphere.
The language constantly pushes at hidden trauma, of ‘our reverse father and undone mother’. Dark hints suggest a tragedy in the past the unnameable family who are forever in the background but not directly spoken of ‘they who do not exist,’ giving the tone of Greek tragedy.
The versatile living room in which the action takes place is like a character in itself with Amanda Ramasawmy’s set design lit by lighting designer Rachel E.Cleary. It reflects a world of emotions in a simple format based on strip neon intermittently used to add meaning.
This is as good a poetic evocation of a modern relationship as can be seen anywhere in London. ‘We’re OK’ they repeat. They are not.
Playwright: dkfash
Director: dkfash
Cast: Ivan Oyik, Reba Ayi-Sobsa
Set design: Amanda Ramasawmy