Guess how much I love you? Review – A Shattering Portrait of a Pregnancy in Crisis | stage

TOperating warnings are delivered to us on the card as we enter the hall. For good reason: Luke Norris’s play is a harrowing portrait of pregnancy and grief, probing the depths of grief within marriage. But it’s not just that. It’s funny, deep, and intense without ever becoming exhausting.

The play follows a couple in their 30s who remain anonymous, just like their child, as they cope with loss. Their relationship seems to be fueled by an interesting kind of contradiction. She (Rosie Sheehy) is smart, fierce and always ready to fight. He (Robert Aramayo) is gentler, and uses humor — and poetry, even in the face of her cynicism — to soften its edges. Their dialogue feels like contact sports — bouncy, fast and furious — as they wait for the results of their 20-week ultrasound in the first scene.

The news is painful and we realize it in the next scene. They must make terrible choices about the birth of their child. Both Sheehy and Aramayo give explosive performances, matching each other’s intensity in different ways. This story is very dark (“Are we at the bottom yet?” he asks) but you don’t want to miss a second of it.

The play, directed by Jeremy Herren, changes from brutal to tender, from devastating to comic, and is confident in showing us what grief looks like. Norris, well known as an actor, distinguished himself as a writer in the play “Goodbye to All That,” which was performed upstairs at the Royal Court in 2012. This confirms his talent as a playwright of depth and taste.

The plot twists bring shock and dread, but alongside that there is whimsy and a profound rumination on mortality, including the mystical element that wraps itself around other dreams, worlds and existences.

It is strikingly staged, with blackouts between scenes. Grace Smart’s set design changes rapidly in the darkness, suddenly emerging from a new environment – a couple’s bedroom or potential nursery replacing a hospital room, with dazzling lighting by Jessica Hung Han Yun.

The couple’s battles are profound and speak of the unspeakable. “Sometimes I hate you,” she says, and he wishes her death. But through the tears and the angry, unreasonable accusations they hurl at each other, love endures. This is a tearjerker with 100% heart and 0% emotion. What a start to the Royal Court’s 70th anniversary season. What an emotional tour.