Review: THE BUSY WORLD IS HUSHED, Finborough Theatre

"The busy world is hushed. The fever of life is over and our work here is done."

American writer Keith Bunin's play, making its European premiere at the Finborough, is an attempt to make sense of God's place in our lives, in the hope that from that discovery, we can learn how to love one other more beneficially.

The script takes a voyeuristic peek into the life of a widowed theologian. Hannah (Kazia Pelka) is a speaker, not a writer, and has therefore sought the help of the linguist, Brandt (Mateo Oxley) to ghostwrite her book. The two strike up an unlikely friendship; they drink wine, eat pad Thai, all whilst debating the presence of God.

It is through these interactions that important questions are posed. Why would the all-powerful care about a mediocre life? Why would they create a world with so much pain and suffering? And do we each individually create the God we wish to believe in? The complexity of religion is unpicked in Bunin's wonderful script.

Hannah's son, Thomas (Michael James), is a wild one. Since the age of 10 he has been running away from home, playing his favourite game 'Get Lost': a challenge where you strand yourself somewhere unknown, and then attempt to navigate back home. He arrives back at the flat, this time bloody and with porcupine needles sticking out of his legs. Brandt removes them for him, and we are given our first instance of a connection between the pair.

It is through Paul Higgins' clear direction that these intimate moments are read clearly. The looks the young men share show a genuine desire to become closer with one another. The setting is intimate, and Marco Turcich has designed a cosy New York apartment where the pair convene.

Nominated for a Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding New Play, Bunin's text is deeply moving and unsettling in equal measure. He cleverly weaves a homo-romantic narrative under an umbrella of faith, giving us just the right amount of sexual tension and eccentricity.

Does anyone listen when we speak into the void? That question is up for debate, but one sure thing is that this play has its desired effect. It's a reminder to us all that we must give ourselves the ability to love; without doing that, we cannot form anything that will be productive to mind or soul.

The Busy World Is Hushed at the Finborough Theatre until 25 November

Photo Credit: Scott Rylander

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