this is livingIf you were to stand opposite the person you loved most, knowingly for the last time, what would you say? That’s the impossible question at the centre of Liam Borrett’s stunning debut play, which imagines a hinterland between life and death.

There’s been an accident. A bad one. Twelve hours after it happens, Alice waits with her husband Michael, held somewhere between life and death. Alice’s dilemma is difficult – physically absent, she can only look on at the family unit she helped to create continuing without her. She grows to resent Michael who, despite his grief, still has what she doesn’t – the ability to be a parent.

Borrett cleverly splices the supernatural with the stirring, punctuating sharply observed scenes from their fledgling relationship with those from the dead. It’s hugely ambitious and This Is Living will have you leaning forward in your seat from start to finish, trying to get a hold on this play’s daring form. Borrett has written an intimate portrayal of a love relationship and he succeeds in leading audiences out of their comfort zone into one where they are forced to examine themselves, by daring to feel too much.

Isabella Van Braeckel’s striking design helps to situate This Is Living firmly in non-reality, with the domestic scenes taking place on a carpet of vivid grass. Borrett directs with restrained elegance, but his main achievement lies in drawing out a performance of extraordinary maturity from TamsinTopolski. She is mesmerising as Alice, combining subtlety of thought with an intimate physicality. Andrew Gourlay offers strong support as Michael, capturing his laid-back outlook with refinement and great likeability.

If anything, the production is guilty of over-ambition, with the play’s fractured structure occasionally coming at the cost of clear storytelling. But this remains a remarkable debut from an impressive new voice.

This Is Living is at Bedlam Theatre (Venue 49) until 23 August. For more information and tickets visit the Ed Fringe website.