Of Kith and Kin, theatre review: Acute but uneven study of intimacy and dishonesty

This new play from Chris Thompson, which ponders masculinity and manipulation, starts out feeling like a sitcom and then turns into something much darker. Daniel and Oliver are a married gay couple about to become parents. Their baby is being carried by close friend Priya — the egg is from a donor — and the mood appears joyous until Daniel’s mother Lydia (Joanna Bacon) intrudes.

Oliver wryly notes that she has an unerring nose for dysfunction. In fact, Lydia’s main talent seems to be for giving offence, and as her snarky comments provoke increasingly passionate argument, the fault lines in the central relationship are revealed.

James Lance’s Daniel is guilty of a forceful selfishness that hints at his potential for real violence — the legacy of neglect when he was younger. Meanwhile Joshua Silver’s Oliver may feel like the junior partner, but he can be wickedly acerbic, and his sarcasm is a channel for resentment, not least of his husband’s at times careless attitude towards him.

Thompson writes acutely about intimacy and dishonesty. Yet he flirts with cliché, and his characters’ motivations can be hard to fathom. The middle section of the play, prompted by one person’s mystifying change of heart, is a barely plausible courtroom drama, complete with a peculiarly flippant magistrate.

Robert Hastie’s production, which began life in Sheffield, is at its best when probing the couple’s differences. A stirring final act, full of raw conflict, focuses on ways in which the prospect of having a child can expose truths about parents’ self-image, aspirations and compatibility. But it can’t entirely compensate for the unevenness of what’s gone before.

Until Nov 25, Bush Theatre; bushtheatre.co.uk