John Burgess’ new production Between Us at the Arcola Theatre mixes stand-up and thought-provoking monologues, questioning inequality and how we are living our lives today. Not easy to digest, it targets its audience with a very clear message – things shouldn’t have come to this.

Julia is a therapist and secretly a stand-up comedian using her field and patients as material and inspiration. We meet two of her patients over a span of time and come to understand the link between them, and how one little mistake can nag at the heart forever.

Julia is played with wry intellect and humour by Charlotte Cornwell who has a very calming, rooted stage-presence. Georgina Rich’s patient is distraught and layered with clever finesse, and Callum Dixon painfully unfolds Dave’s past with a well-built emotional barrier and physique. All actors are beautifully cast and perform with truthfulness and commitment. However some parts, particularly the stand-up, feels slightly rehearsed and the collection of monologues (which is the majority of the play) seem a bit cliché in their therapist-client relationship.

Between Us is very powerful and hard to digest. We feel uncomfortable as an audience listening to the session, which seems to be the tone the production is heading for. Burgess’ direction is very clear, and the text is beautifully explored with lots of variety, colour and soul. However the set up does feel slightly stiff with reoccurring monologues throughout most of the play becoming slightly repetitive. It’s telling real, dark stories with loaded heart, but the stand-up seems to be more of a case of making the monologues less distressing and not a comic relief linking the two naturally together.

Sarah Daniels is a great writer with sense of haunting imagery and character-life, and though it’s very simple visually, it carries a load of unanswered questions and remarks on society today. Dealing with taboos it’s hard to witness but that’s what political theatre is about – it shouldn’t be pleasant, but it shouldn’t be a rant either. Between Us is nearly there, but misses a punch. I was moved by the themes and the imagery of the words, but slightly disappointed by the form. 

Between Us is playing at the Arcola until 21 June. For more information and tickets, see the Arcola Theatre website.