‘Mydidae’ at Soho Theatre

When you find yourself in a small theatre, front row, seated on the edge of someone’s bathroom, full frontal is probably an inevitability. But when the real naked exposure comes through the characters themselves, overshadowing any physical nudity, it’s clear this is new theatre at its most naturalistic. Besides, of course they’re naked – in the bath!

Exposed and intimate in every sense of the word, BAFTA-award-winning writer Jack Thorne presents the first full length play to be commissioned by DryWrite, a theatre company committed to work that challenges both the writers and their audiences. From set design to subject matter, Mydidae achieves its goal, presenting a brave, hard hitting yet tender play about those secret moments in our relationships – in a fully plumbed bathroom.

David (Keir Charles) and Marian (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) seem like any couple in love: washing, shaving, peeing in front of each other, completely at ease in baggy t-shirts and old underwear. It is a wonderfully human introduction to the relationship, watching the two play out their daily routine, stealing kisses by the bath, albeit kisses that must punctuate conversations with David’s other love – his job.  Only today is not just any other day. Outside the capsule safety of the bathroom lies the first anniversary of a shared tragedy, but David has an important presentation meaning Marian will have to deal with this ever present memory alone until he comes home from work.

To Marian’s surprise, David has run a bath for them to share, filling the room with candles, scented spray and mid-range red wine; an almost religious preparation for an intimate moment and one that will surely resonate with them both for a long time to come. Entwined in each other’s arms, David and Marian submerge together, journeying through the stages of a relationship from those early days getting-to-know-you flirtations, to seeds that once planted can quickly mutate into jealousy leaving room for guilt, and ultimately, blame.

Beautifully acted, Charles and Waller-Bridge bring a raw honesty to their performances with a chemistry that brings life to Thorne’s simplistic but masterful script, helping us enter into the microcosmic portrayal of this couple’s history.

Whether we like it or not, those with whom we are naked see us at our most unguarded and vulnerable. For David and Marian, this bathtime exposure finally sees tensions and fears overflow. For the audience, we are forced to see the dark complexities that exist behind closed doors.

As they say, it all comes out in the wash.

Mydidae runs until Saturday 22 December (bar Tuesday 18 December) at:

Soho Theatre
21 Dean Street
London
W1D 3NE

Box Office: 020 7478 0100

Image courtesy of  Simon Annand