Supernova – VAULT Festival, London

Writer: Rhiannon Neads

Director: Jessica Dromgoole

Tess and Harry meet at a party. She’s an astronaut; he’s the Eleventh Doctor. She can recite star facts from scratch; he can name every Doctor in order (as a lifelong Doctor Who fan, not that impressive). It’s a match made in heaven – for a while. Writer-performer Rhiannon Neads’ comedy, performed alongside Sam Swann, investigates what happens when a perfect relationship turns sour.

It’s a tight script, pulsating with wit before taking a darker turn in the second half of the piece as the play gets under the skin of Tess’s mental illness. Funny lines appear across the play, from digressions on being called ‘hot’ to what you’d do if a meteor was about to hit to sending voicenotes telling yourself not to send voicenotes. These concerns add to the pathos, as Neads takes us into the stratosphere and back down to Earth with these characters. Every scene is clever, witty and heartbreaking, packed with foreshadowing and perhaps a smidge of hope, alongside the devastatingly realistic (but still hilarious) depictions of mental illness.

Neads is a blast as Tess, weaving in her darker side from the off but throwing off witty lines like she was born to say them, and totally inhabiting her catastrophically clever and deflective character. Swann has the harder job as the seemingly ever-patient and kind Harry: here, it might be nice to delve further into Harry’s psyche as to what his life is like outside of Tess, but nevertheless he gives as good as he gets, and the moment he breaks down is immensely upsetting.

Supernova is a VAULT gem that deserves a long life rather than a supernova style collapse: it burns brightly, its hilarity and honest darkness battling against each other in a way that holds the play together throughout. Much like the inside of a star, it’s beautifully nuclear.

Runs until 12 March 2023