Review: GOOD GRIEF, Platform Presents

Lorien Haynes's Good Grief is hard to pin down. Half comedy, half drama, a bit of theatre with a dash of film. Short enough that it doesn't become stale, but suitably long to paint an impeccable blueprint of loss. Natalie Abrahami directs the snappy 45-minute one-act play, while Sian Clifford (of Fleabag fame, playing Cat) and Nikesh Patel (Adam) navigate their way through the death of Adam's partner and Cat's friend Liv.

We meet the two right after a huge party and follow them through six months of mourning, from Liv's wake, through sexual awkwardness, to the reasons behind their eventual distance. While she's scathing with a cutting sense of humour even in her anguish, he sits on the brink of breaking down. She brings him back from that void, but as they bond over their mutual love for Liv, her memory gets in the way.

The five scenes are introduced on screen roughly in the same style a script is usually written, with setting and timeframe included in the details. This quite filmic device acts like a buffer between the various sections of the piece and turns into a celebration of the craft of theatre.

As the crew set up props and rearrange the small room used as a stage, we're reminded of how much we've lost as theatregoers. The black and white hues of these segments not only amplify the feeling of nostalgia, but also ask for a degree of suspension of disbelief from the viewers - just as a trip to the theatre would.

Clifford and Patel communicate an underlying sadness, even during the most comedic parts. With the show being fairly predictable in its storyline, its mode of delivery proves a crucial strength. A hand-held camera adds intimacy and sincerity to the script, while Isobel Waller-Bridge's music acts as an emotional cue.

Haynes, a London-based American whose first play this is, writes realistic and honest conversation, sprinkling a sensible amount of guilt and pain throughout. As sexual tension builds, so do remorse and self-reproach. The characters come to embody very real depictions of what grief looks like for everyday people. Ultimately, the play delineates the intricacies of accepting death.

We become witnesses to the complications that Liv's death carries for two close friends. As they cope with the sudden loss, they make mistakes and are hurtful in their attempts to be there for one another. Raw emotion and snarky remarks coexist almost in the same breath - especially with Cat - and their swings in tone and mood are well calibrated in both writing and acting.

By the end, even if the tragedy is diluted by humour, the piece leaves us with profound sorrow and a bitter taste in our mouths. Cat and Adam are two flawed people striving to find a compromise between their feelings for each other and such outside forces as might preclude their happiness, like the fear of their friends' judgements and potential accusations of infidelity.

Good Grief is both uplifting and heartbreaking, the comedy and tragedy equally sharp. The acting is refined, and the writing is precise. The circumstances may not be the most original or unique, but nor, usually, is real life.

Good Grief is available online from 15 February to 15 April.

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