Review: Albion Theatre's LUNGS Captures the Highs and Lows of Adult Romantic Relationships

Albion Theatre closes its season with the contemporary love story LUNGS by English playwright Duncan MacMillan. LUNGS opens with a couple, in what can be assumed is a long-established relationship, fretting about having a baby. Both the man and woman are high strung type-A personalities who wonder if it’s a poor choice to bring a baby into a world with a climate crisis. The self-professed ‘good people’ would never do anything without agonizing over their every decision. 

The hour and forty-five-minute one-act play explores the relationship between a Ph.D. candidate and her musician lover. The entirety of the play is a series of conversations about the life choices of the unnamed characters. Billed simply as W (Nicole Angeli) and M (Joel Moses), the anxious woman and man grind, often to the point of exhaustion, over every decision they face in their relationship. 

Macmillan's script is sharp and acidic, witty and drool. It spans a few decades of W and M’s relationship and examines the discordancies that derail couples. Macmillan’s use of humor is situational and grounded in relatable realties. Both internal and external conflicts threaten W and M’s relationship, yet they cling to each other like cheese sauce sticks to macaroni. 

The immensely talented Nicole Angeli and Joel Moses passionately articulate Macmillan’s scripted banter with ardent fervor. It is their intensity, histrionics, tenderness, and sentimentality that give W and M authenticity. Both are flawed and hold firm to deeply rooted convictions. It’s their undeniable honesty that creates characters who are both likeable and loathsome, yet relatable. They capture many of the emotions of an adult relationships with a mirror-like quality that reflects the life experiences of the audience.  

Albion’s artistic director Robert Ashton tapped the phenomenal Ellie Schwetye to direct LUNGS. Schwetye’s lively pacing rivaled a championship horse race. Her actors burst onto the stage like thoroughbreds breaking from the starting gate. She kept the emotion just below boiling and mined the many cathartic moments from Macmillan’s fervent script. Her direction and high energy timing swiftly advanced the plot. The 110-minutes evaporated faster than water droplets on scorching concrete.  

Albion continues to stage exceptional productions of plays from the United Kingdom and LUNGS is no exception. Schwetye’s production is an emotional look at relationships and the forces that help maintain or derail a couple. Angeli and Moses are convincing as the woman and man considering parenthood who find understanding and wrestle with conflicts along the way.  

Albion Theatre’s stimulating production of LUNGS continues at the Kranzberg Black Box Theatre through November 2nd. Click the link below to purchase tickets.  

PHOTO CREDIT: John Lamb

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