A tightly paced comedy that uses humour to explore themes of trauma, relationships and renewal within the confines of a single day.
I went into Collapse expecting a brooding reflection on loss and recovery, but instead I found a darkly comic take on familiar struggles such as PTSD, addiction and strained relationships, all unfolding within a frantic twelve-hour window. Rather than linger on deep, searching dialogue or philosophical musings about trauma, the play prefers to use humour as a means of bringing difficult subjects into the open, allowing the audience to confront them with a smile.
At its heart is Hannah, a woman determined to keep her life in order as her husband falters under the weight of his past. Into this already fragile balance strides her outspoken sister, armed with an unexpected package that acts as the catalyst for the events that follow. The combination of wife, husband and intrusive sister is a well-worn theatrical set-up, reminiscent of the charged domestic battlegrounds of Tennessee Williams. Here, however, the fireworks are less about operatic emotional destruction and more about the absurd, sometimes slapstick ways that people reveal their fragility when cornered.
The play’s most effective device is the image of the collapsed bridge from the husband’s past, which becomes a metaphor for the entire piece. His decision to tackle his lingering fear by climbing a new bridge carries a certain cheerful optimism. It suggests that the best way to overcome disaster is not to rebuild exactly what was lost, but to seek out something new and take the risk of crossing it.
The performances were uneven. Bonnie Langthorn was a joy to watch, bringing an energy that lifted every scene she was in. Paul Mclaughlin brought on stage a welcome and natural comic timing that drew genuine laughs. Emma Haines and Keenan Heinzelmann, however, lacked the chemistry to fully convince us of their shared history, which left some of the emotional beats feeling a little hollow for me.
The set was stripped back to minimal, with a particularly inventive use of a sofa to stand in for the bridge. This simple choice gave the staging a visual wit and underlined the play’s resourcefulness.
Collapse is an energetic, often funny piece that uses humour to explore serious themes without becoming heavy-handed. It may attempt to carry more than its short running time can comfortably hold, but it leaves you with the hopeful thought that even after the most devastating collapse, there is always another bridge to climb.
Emma Haines was brilliant. The chemistry remark just left that out