With You – Bread and Roses Theatre

Writers: Yuvraj Bhatia and Irina Ivanova

Director: Yuvraj Bhatia

Any piece of post-apocalyptic art, particularly those involving the challenges of a civilisation rebuilding itself after an existential threat, will suggest parallels with either the COVID-19 pandemic or current conflicts around the world, and quite possibly both.

With You tends towards the former, with its 45-minute tale of two people trapped together in a world recovering from “The Blackout,” a nebulously described global event that has left two unnamed characters (played by writers Yuvraj Bhatia and Irina Ivanova) effectively in lockdown together.

Bhatia and Ivanova’s play sees their characters circle each other, shifting from reassurance about their predicament to squabbling about whether the Blackout was accidental and/or preventable (two very different things), their relationship to their parents, and their feelings for one another. Of these, the least important is perhaps the world-building involved in creating this future history, and the writers sensibly do not spend too much time dwelling on the minutiae. Instead, the snippets of information we do get, and how they are interpreted, become the foundation for some exploration of the characters’ own thought processes and belief systems.

Perhaps the most interesting thread is the relationship between Bhatia’s character and his father, who is missing and presumed dead. We are given the impression of a man who controlled his son completely, receiving nothing but devotion in return. Coupled with a sense of tightly controlled physical movement by Bhatia, there are indications that his character may not be entirely human. The paternal relationship feels more owner-and-android than father-and-son, but no less real for that.

That contrasts nicely with the backstory of Ivanova’s character, a “child of the Blackout” who never knew her own parents. Indeed, the differences between the two allow the actors to bring out nuances in the characters. In places, such character differences are rather unsubtly dealt with; elsewhere, there is more nuance both in dialogue and the actors’ performance.

Coupled with scene transitions that involve music crashing in unexpectedly (occasionally obscuring the characters’ dialogue), there is a sense that With You requires a little more polish for its intriguing premise to fully land. However, its sense of connection in the face of catastrophe shines through.

Continues until 26 April 2025