Review: GREY AREA, VAULT Festival

"I used to be enough to keep you all together." We meet Jackson and Peter on their birthday when their dry, loving sarcasm swiftly turns into a tense argument about the choice of film for the night. Moving back and forth along the timeline, Jonny Peyton-Hill puts a relationship under the microscope, analysing how mental health affects the ups and downs of navigating young love.

Directed by Chiara Virgilio, Grey Area is a fully formed, mature play about the intricacies of choosing to stand by someone when their mental health is suffering. Their history hangs in the form of significant objects on three intricate webs made of yarn in a clever design by Ioana Curelea. Virgilio propels the action by having her actors lean forward or backward to indicate the evolution of their storyline. The jumps in time and setting are surprisingly easy to follow, a fight that's often lost on stage.

Peyton-Hill is effortlessly funny and bitterly empathetic as Jackson. He is joined by Lewis Kennedy in a vulnerable performance. While the former is open in his identity and vocal about the issues in the LGBTQ+ community, Kennedy's character struggles to voice his thoughts and put his battle into words.

As Jackson becomes his safe person, Peter grows accidentally cruel and inconsiderate. He matches Jackson's genuine worry by shutting down and pushing him away, and their connection develops into a toxic vicious circle of hurt and devotion. It's heartbreaking. Peyton-Hill writes a sensitive yet playful script, handling the tonal changes in his plot exceptionally well.

There are some negligible pacing hitches in a few of the longer scenes, but the piece recovers quickly through wholesome writing and a clean direction. It's a stretch to say that Grey Area is a coming-of-age story as the characters only sit on the further edge of it briefly, but it has all the sentiment of one. Peyton-Hill's exploration of affection is delicate and harrowing, moving and airy, tragic and hopeful. It's definitely a highlight of VAULT Festival so far.

Grey Area runs at VAULT Festival until 19 February and then at the King's Head Theatre from 27 February to 5 March.

VAULT Festival has been left without a venue for next year. You can contribute to the #SaveVAULT campaign here.

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