Lungs: Royalty Takes Over the Old Vic

5 stars

Running for a mere three weeks at The Old Vic, Lungs promised to recapture the magic that Claire Foy and Matt Smith brought to the first two seasons of The Crown on Netflix to the stage. I’m not one to blindly buy tickets for the sake of the play’s star power (I made that mistake once with When We Have Sufficiently Tortured Each Other, starring Cate Blanchett and Stephen Dillane), but as the tickets went on sale back in June, I found myself frantically attempting to get in the virtual queue while trying to board my flight back to London.

Lungs, written by Duncan McMillan, starts off as a discussion at Ikea between a couple on whether they should have a child together. Plagued by the state of the world we live in, their dilemma is whether two smart, good people would contribute to overpopulation and bring forth another life which would result in a carbon footprint the weight of the Eiffel Tower. In just 90 minutes, the play covers an immense amount of material, examining the lives of this modern, suburban couple; what it means to be a good person; and what can and can’t be done to save our planet from damnation. It argues that if people truly had the planet’s best interests in mind, not only would we not be having children, but we would be killing ourselves, something no one is willing to do. Does this make us all selfish?

Although the script often opts in for broad strokes, moving from one moment in the lives of the characters to the next abruptly, the focus is always razor sharp. The staging is simple, with minimal yet effective lighting and sound. The audience is placed behind the stage in addition to the usual auditorium set-up, which adds to the feeling of peeking into the characters’ lives. Despite the frequent and considerable time and location jumps, the play flows brilliantly. The fast pace and the ever-changing nature of the play keeps the audience on their toes regardless of the vastly conversational tone of the play.

Smith is great, and his chemistry with Foy unparalleled to anyone else in my recent memory. However, Foy is absolutely transcendent in her role, taking every sentence and making them resonate with such depth that the audience can’t help but be drawn in. The acting is so profoundly affecting that it elevates the already extremely relevant, relatable, and ultimately important script.

The ending is so magnificent and devastating that it leaves the audience to ponder on the meaning of this bleak yet beautiful life. Like all excellent theatre, it paves the way for personal reflection, letting the audience have an incredibly personal, intimate reaction to what they have seen. It’s just a shame that it is only running for such a short period.