REVIEW: WITH YOU @ DRAYTON ARMS THEATRE

🎭 With You

📍 Drayton Arms Theatre, 153 Old Brompton Rd, Greater, London SW5 0LJ

🗓 Sunday 2nd February 2025

⭐️⭐️

MINIMALIST, THOUGHT-PROVOKING, BUT FRUSTRATINGLY VAGUE

WITH YOU, written by Yuvraj Bhatia and Irina Ivanova, is a small-scale, intimate play set in a world struggling to rebuild after The Blackout, a world-changing event that has left humanity lost and broken. We meet two unnamed characters confined to what seems to be a facility, trying to make sense of their situation, identities and relationship with each other.

The play offers a stripped-back theatrical experience, focusing more on mood and interaction than set or props. While this minimalism had its strengths, it also posed challenges. The context of The Blackout remained frustratingly vague, and I spent the first ten minutes of this 35-minute play trying to work out where the characters were and what had actually happened. Although the writing offered glimpses into their past – mentioning their parents, for example – it didn’t provide enough to fully understand their situation or empathise with them.

I did find their evolving relationship compelling. There was something interesting about the way they struggled to connect, as if they’d forgotten how but were still trying. At times, though, the dialogue felt contradictory. One moment, the female character insisted she hated being there; the next, she said she liked it. This may have been intentional, reflecting human inconsistency, but it made it harder to grasp the characters’ emotions.

Visually, the production was simple but effective. The plain set and costumes suited the tone of the play, and the lighting shifts helped convey the emotional shifts in each scene. The music, however, was less successful. It would suddenly appear during tense moments and then cut out abruptly, which I found distracting rather than atmospheric.

With such a short runtime, the play felt more like a snapshot than a full story, leaving many questions unanswered. I don’t mind ambiguity, but the script could have done more to establish the post-Blackout world. Still, the play grew on me. By the end, the relationship between the two felt more authentic, and the climax was well-executed.

While WITH YOU left me with more questions than answers, it was a thoughtful reminder of the power of human connection – even when everything else has fallen apart.

Estelle Luck

All views are my own and I pride myself on being honest, fair and free from influence. Theatre is subjective and it is important to remember that all views expressed are just those of one person.

My ticket for this performance of With You was gifted by Yuvraj Bhatia who invited me to watch the show on behalf of Pink Prince Theatre in exchange for my honest review. The fact that my ticket was gifted played no part in the content of my review or the star rating given.