This angry sickbed shout of a play is testament to the resilience of London theatre. David Hare, 73, wrote it after falling desperately ill with Covid-19 just before lockdown, and watching aghast the government’s failure to grapple with the disease.
Nicholas Hytner has mounted it at the Bridge while most theatres remain closed. Ralph Fiennes – who perfectly captures Hare’s acid, exasperated tones – is performing the 50-minute monologue two or three times a day in rep to make distanced audiences of 250 viable in a venue built for 900.
It’s a raw, urgent piece of work, in which the author’s natural antipathy to a Conservative government gains a personal edge. As the “dirty bomb” of the virus detonates inside him he moves through fever, vomiting, diarrhoea, herpes and delirium.
Meanwhile Boris Johnson and his cabinet evade responsibility for failures of quarantine, tracing, PPE and the protection of the most vulnerable. To call these politicians mediocrities “does violence to the word”, Fiennes says, dripping contempt. He stalks the stage like a mantis, head jutting, arms flexing with contained fury.
Fans of the PM won’t find much to enjoy here. But the litany of symptoms and familiar political bungles is leavened by wit and domestic detail. Hare’s wife, the sculptor and former fashion designer Nicole Farhi, attempts to banish his chills with shared bodily warmth. He becomes comically upset watching films. Covid turns him into a “hippie”, giving loving thanks to a glass of water.
The piece has such immediacy, and Fiennes such understated charisma, that any fear of Covid-fatigue is overcome. Likewise, the thrill of being in a theatre again outweighs the strangeness of an audience in face-coverings scattered around an auditorium denuded of seats.
There is a groundswell around our stages now, with the musical Sleepless premiering this week, and the National Theatre - and, er, the Mousetrap - reopening in October. London theatre is rallying. Although, like Hare, it will be dramatically changed.
In rep until Oct 31: 0333 320 0052, bridgetheatre.co.uk.
