Theatre review - The Quiet House

In The Quiet House Gareth Farr explores the topical subject of infertility with great sensitivity and flair. Jess (Michelle Bonnard) and Dylan (Oliver Lansley), a loving couple in their mid-30s, are trying for a child. When they decide to go down the IVF route their relationship is tested to the limits.

Jess works from home and holds imaginary conversations with the child she so desperately wants. Dylan tries to keep his head down at the office, unwilling to tell Tony (Tom Walker), his boss and friend, the real reason he needs time off and why he doesn’t want to take business trips abroad.

Farr drives home the discomfort many couples feel about discussing infertility. He also vividly evokes the unnerving process of IVF: the regular injections Jess has to endure; the trepidation the pair feel as they wait for the call that will tell them how many embryos have survived and, finally, the unbearable two-minute wait for the pregnancy test result.

Bonnard conveys Jess’s descent into obsession, her bitter disappointment, with unflinching honesty. Lansley is also compelling as the husband who gradually realises he has only a supporting role as sperm donor and comforter.

The play could be shorter. The histrionic opening, when Dylan describes teenagers shoplifting after the death of a shopkeeper while Jess is desperate to utilise the optimum time for possible conception, feels unnecessary.

However, for the most part this is a powerful and poignant drama and it’s no surprise to learn that Farr’s eloquence comes from personal experience.

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Originally published by Camden Review