Notes and Review

For me, the strongest relationship in the play was James' (the victim of Jacob's 'one-punch') parents'. 

Wholly, the play was very fast-paced, particularly in the first act when Jacob delivers his fast paced, complex monologue, and when they came onto the stage together, I found that I was provided almost a comfort in their speech and scenes. James' mum in particular yielded a soothing atmosphere, even in the darkest of scenes, she would have a slightly hunched posture and nearly always the inner most corners of her eyebrows raised up, sometimes this may imply concern or fatigue from a character, but coupled with her soothing lower pitch and slower pace, it felt like as effective tendency from Julie Hesmondhalgh, who played James' mum, Joan.

James' dad however, played by Tony Hirst, contrastingly portrayed a father entirely overcome with grief. I found ease in identifying David's (James' dad's) journey through the Five Stages of Grief, and how his character adapted to the fact.