Lost Atoms
Connaught Theatre, Worthing
A Frantic Assembly Production
until Sat 22nd Nov
Two performers stand before an immense wall of filing cabinets. Over the course of two hours, they open, scale and sift through the drawers, rifling through memories of an ever-shifting relationship. Looking back from a purgatory-esque present, a fork in the road that will decide their future/s, their shared (and often misremembered) reminiscence of a romance and its breaking down plays out across a past they are wary to repeat.
Such is the premise for Frantic Assembly’s new production, Lost Atoms, a… ahem… frantic two-hander where the memories come thick and fast. A meet cute, a first date, a gig, meeting the parents, a storm, a beach, a bed. The scenes roll and spill across one another, as Jess and Robbie take less of a trip and more of a headfirst plunge down memory lane, correcting each other from an undefined present as they point out one another’s unreliable narration of their shared story.
Anna Jordan’s script is a masterclass in emotional intelligence, handling its subject matter with nuance and care. It is like navigating an Alain de Botton essay without the experienced guide.
Instead we watch as two everyday, flawed individuals suffer and surmount in equal measure the obstacles that come their way. Throughout, Jordan’s script is lifted and dynamised by Frantic’s signature blend of physicality. Although overall it might seem measured and lacking in any real sense of “danger” – that heart-in-your-mouth half-gasp that regular Frantic audiences are so familiar with – it remains enticing and virtuosic, immaculately choreographed yet seemingly spontaneous – playful, dextrous and, at times, magical. The movement imbues the text with an energy that impels us through the cascade of memories, rendering each isolated scene tangible and present.
Understandably a lot is laid across the shoulders of the play’s two performers. Joe Layton as Robbie and Hannah Sinclair Robinson as Jess have a fantastic chemistry and spark off one another like charged electrons. Their intense brand of “opposites attract” – Robbie the staid pragmatist and Jess the nihilistic free-spirit – allows for fission and friction in equal measure.
Through them the dialogue is delivered bitingly – every word and gesture is pointed, fraught with subtext. Simisola Majekondunmi’s lighting and Carolyn Downing’s sound are intricately woven to complement the performances, tuned to each beat and breath as Layton and Robinson carry themselves on a current of their own making – crawling across Andrezj Goulding’s set, swinging from handle to handle and memory to memory as they scoop them from the drawers or tuck them away for later. But, for all the manic, frenzied energy that carries the show, it is in the moments of stillness where it truly comes alive. It is in the silence that the subtext simmers.
Lost Atoms is a play about love and memory. With a script as dynamic as anything Frantic can run beneath it, it makes for a compelling evening. Like love, this production is messy, unkind, hilarious and heartfelt. It’s moving and it’s relatable, packed with lessons on romance, relationships and on how to be human. The audience peels away into the night, no doubt filing away these little nuggets of wisdom to hopefully one day remember them.
Lost Atoms is currently playing at the Connaught Theatre in Worthing until Saturday 22nd November.
Reviewer: Ethan Taylor