It's no surprise if one of the most prolific playwrights working today is among the first out of the gates with a new Covid play, nor that James Graham has approached the subject with a sharp political focus but from a highly original direction. Bubble is playing for three performances only at Nottingham Playhouse, with a socially distanced live audience and everyone else able to buy a pass to watch one of the performances on Zoom. Micro-pub owner Ashley (Pearl Mackie) and teacher Morgan (Jessica Raine) are buzzing after having been on a great first date, the first successful one for either of them in a long time. Then lockdown laws are announced and they have a very reckless thought: What if they went into isolation together and found out just how accurate those great first impressions were?We see them talk each other into going ahead with it, then the scene replays with them talking each other out of it, because Graham's taking the Sliding Doors approach and showing us how both scenarios play out: A fledgling relationship being put under pressure in one instance by being put on fast-forward as the two women move in together before learning each other's last names; or in the other by being put on hold by distance, and having to get to know each other through apps. Adam Penford's production initially differentiates between the timelines by swapping around the actors' positions both on stage and on camera, but that would probably have been too restrictive over the entire play so after a while we get captions projected at the start of every scene telling us if we're in the "bubble" or "apart" universe.
Although it's an entertaining evening Bubble does feel a bit rough-and-ready in some ways, even as it's sophisticated in others - it definitely feels like a play that will have a life after the specific circumstances of its creation* but probably with a couple more rewrites to smooth it out. The relationship we follow over the course of 75 minutes is the hook on which to hang a recap of many of the major talking points of the last few months and the way they've highlighted the differences even between people who are close (Paula Abdul's "Opposites Attract" is a recurring theme on the soundtrack.) We have words like Zoom and Bubble that have taken on different meanings since the start of the year, flashpoints like the Black Lives Matter protests and whether Boris Johnson deserved sympathy when he caught Covid. Though the pair discover where each other stands on these issues eventually in both scenarios, proximity sometimes makes a difference in how they react to them (after arguing with Morgan, "bubble" Ashley goes to London for a BLM protest; "apart" Ashley goes to a local event in Nottingham instead after a more sedate video call.) Graham doesn't go so far as to make Morgan a self-confessed Tory - moving in together impulsively is one thing but you can strain credibility in the relationship too far - but she does have an unlikeable habit of using her job as an excuse to fence-sit her way out of anything too demanding.
On the other hand there's an ambition to the open-ended way Graham's created the characters. Ashley and Morgan are both gender-ambiguous names, and it wasn't until casting was announced that it was apparent from the blurb this would be about a same-sex couple. And while it's relevant to the story that one actor be black and the other white, I don't think it would take any rewriting at all to have them both be men (and there's only one scene that deals particularly with them being gay, so arguably very little rewriting could make this open to any number of gender identities in combination.) It's good to see that even with one very major topic to deal with Graham is still fully aware, and doing something about, the concerns about making theatre as broadly inclusive as possible that were being discussed before everything shut down. And while his microcosm of the world in lockdown is a bit too blunt an instrument at times, finding the humour and humanity in a dire situation tips the scale to make this well worth the watch.
Bubble by James Graham is booking until the 24th of October at Nottingham Playhouse (only streaming tickets still available.)
Running time: 1 hour 15 minutes straight through.
*let's face it, even at the best of times theatres sometimes need a play with minimal cast and staging requirements
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