by Sophie Frew
See also: video preview of the play
A few first night fluffs aside, this cast made a very strong team under Alex Worsnip’s direction. The Flu Season is self-consciously modern in the language and the images used by its narrators. The prologue and epilogue act as a commentary from the playwright, as if he began in love and this subsequently turned sour. These might have become redundant once the pivotal rejection takes place yet there is then a partisan split, the epilogue on side with the man and the prologue with the woman. Hannah Martin as the Prologue dealt well with a difficult transition from one side of a single mind to embodying the rejected spirit. The position of an amending epilogue jarred with the central message that both love and life are fleeting and imperfect. But Sam Caird, acting as the epilogue and voice of Will Eno, impressively portrayed the smugness of hindsight and the manic perfectionism of a writer who is even now correcting this work.
The sense of foreboding in the production was slightly overplayed, which prevented the audience from becoming fully involved with the love story. But the beauty and innocence of the love between the man and the woman comes because they do not overanalyse its consequences – as they do those of their conversations. Andrew Johnson and Lucy Murphy gave real humanity to the awkward inmates who seem destined for one another. The man’s change of heart makes this relationship reflect the previous experiences of their attendants, his glazed expression and passivity contrasting with the train-of-thought dialogue. Lucy Murphy had exceptional depth of emotion in the rejection scenes, making her story the most convincing within the play.
Sam Bright and Amy Mulholland, as the doctor and nurse, served as a quirky reminder of the hopefulness of love. These positive characters were brightly played, competently fulfilling their role of retrieving the audience from the edge of despair.
This tragic story was a cathartic experience which reminded the audience to go out and live. As the epilogue points out, there is no man and woman, their story is not real, but it is brought to life by this cast and, ostracised from society, the couple make their mark through love. Although dominated by the pessimistic epilogue, this is without doubt a highly affirmative and optimistic play.
