Jab is headed to the Park Theatre in April. Performances will run 2-26 April. Inspired by true events from the Covid pandemic, Jab is an uncomfortably familiar black comedy drama about an NHS worker who is forced to isolate with her sexist husband of 29 years as the country goes into lockdown.
The show stars Kacey Ainsworth (Grantchester, EastEnders, Leaves of Glass at Park Theatre) as Anne, a tired, menopausal NHS worker, and Liam Tobin (Boys From The Black Stuff, National Theatre) as lazy, Daily Mail-reading husband Don. They’ve survived so much together, yet as the world falls apart outside, Anne and Don’s marriage slowly falls apart inside. Through domestic bickering and testing of patience, Jab delves into themes of gender, domestic violence, conspiracy theories, ignorance, and the limits of love.
Jab premiered at Finborough Theatre in 2024, where it received OffWestEnd Award Nominations for Best New Play, Best Director and Best Duo Performance. It sees the return to Park Theatre of writer James McDermott (Time & Tide), and director Scott Le Crass, previously seen at Park Theatre as director of the award-winning Rose starring Maureen Lipman, which transferred to the West End in 2023.
Writer James McDermott said, "Loosely based on my parents' lives during the pandemic, I wanted to write and stage Jab to tell the individual complex human stories behind 'front line workers' and 'COVID statistics', and to articulate explore and help to process our collective trauma of lockdowns. The play is a funny frank fast dark comedy drama foregrounding the lives love and limits of a working-class couple as the pandemic rages in the background. Jab was first brought to life last year by a stellar team of creatives at The Finborough Theatre, where we received five-star reviews and several award nominations. I was chuffed that such a personal story attracted such a wonderful cast and crew and resonated with so many people. I'm grateful more people will now get to experience Jab at Park Theatre, where I had a life-changing time staging my play Time & Tide in 2020".
Writer James McDermott’s plays include Time and Tide (Park Theatre), Rubber Ring (Pleasance Islington/Tour), More Ghost Stories By Candlelight (HighTide; Sam Wanamaker Playhouse/East of England tour), Acid’s Reign (VAULT Festival), and Robin Good: The Politico-Panto (Norwich Playhouse). James’s poetry collections include Wild Life (Nine Arches Press), Erased (Polari Press), and Manatomy (Burning Eye Books). James is also one of the writers on the BBC soap opera EastEnders and lectures in creative writing at the University of East Anglia.
Director Scott Le Crass’ credits include Rose (Park Theatre, West End), Cut The Crap starring Sharon Osbourne (West End), Elmer (UK and International Tour/Sell A Door), Sid (Arts Theatre and UK Tour),Toxic (HOME, Manchester/UK tour), Country Music (Omnibus Theatre), Zanna Don’t (Old Joint Stock Theatre), Wormholes (Omnibus Theatre).
Park Theatre presents exceptional theatre in the heart of Finsbury Park, boasting two world-class performance spaces: Park200 for predominantly larger scale productions by established talent, and Park90, a flexible studio space, for emerging artists. In eleven years, it has enjoyed 10 West End transfers (including Rose starring Maureen Lipman, The Boys in the Band starring Mark Gatiss, Pressure starring David Haig and The Life I Lead starring Miles Jupp), two National Theatre transfers, 14 national tours, seven Olivier Award nominations, has won multiple OffWestEnd Offie Awards, and a Theatre of the Year award from The Stage as well as their inaugural Campaign of the Year award in 2025 for their work reaching underserved audiences with Canadian/ Korean comedy drama Kim’s Convenience.
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