There is nothing more gratifying than leaving the theatre having had you mind broadened and preconceptions challenged. Zero Down does just that. Sarah Herir’s text explores the human condition: timeless issues of judgement, responsibility and morality are set against the modern backdrop of the care homes scandals, zero hours contracts and the highly controversial role of the press. Very relevant, very thought provoking: Zero Down is brilliantly contentious.

Director Sophie Boyce transports us to a late shift in the highly realistic nurses’ lounge of Silver Apple Care Home where student Erin (Sadie Tonks) joins best friends Benny (Katherine Hurley) and Leyla (Elizabeth Nicholson) to battle it out for the jobs that flash up the television screen sitting imposingly on the right of the stage.

This is where the action remains; yet scenes flit fluidly into the escapist fantasies of Leyla and Erin. Leyla gyrates against the washing line pole as she indulges in her secret dream of opening a strip joint: Poler Bares.  How witty. Erin longs for worldwide acclaim for her frontline journalism. Budding journalist, eh? Bit incongruous in a corrupt care home, you may think? Yes, you are right to question her ‘student’ credentials.

Unfortunately, Hurley, Tonks and Nicholson never fully took control of their stage; rarely were you convinced that these women would actually undertake the grim work of a care home nurse. This would have been fine if every other aspect of the production did not scream realism.  Indeed I was entertained that despite being seated in an intensely hot theatre, on stage came protestations about insufficient heating and cold winters. I’m not sure even the best actor could have convinced me they were cold in there… 

Hurley’s portrayal of Benny was the standout performance. Although it took a while for her to relax into the role, she communicated the crippling agony of a woman burdened by the loss of her child and the inability to care for her other with real sincerity. However, her fellow actors indulged far too frequently in overacting to the detriment of conveying any real emotional integrity. 

Zero Down “is not a morality play”. However, we are presented with the following argument: on the one hand, incidences of abuse cannot be justified; there is an obligation to report them to prevent them recurring. The “ends justify the means” declares a determined Erin.  On the other hand, Hehir invites us to consider that there is often a complex backstory to what we read in the paper. There are no monsters or saints, but rather a world populated by complex individuals driven by different emotions.

How can we condemn what any of us are capable of? So really Zero Down rejects the concept of morality and invites us to divest ourselves of righteousness. Which is paradoxically sort of a moral I guess, but never mind. I hope that as the run progresses the actors relax into their roles, as Zero Down is certainly on the verge of fulfilling its full potential. Nevertheless, it was certainly worth the trip down to Battersea.

Zero Down is playing at Theatre503 until 15 August. For more information and tickets, see the Theatre503 website. Photo by Theatre503.