Theatre review: The Habits

PREVIEW DISCLAIMER: Hampstead invites the official critics in next week.

I imagine Stranger Things has caused something of a Dungeons & Dragons resurgence in recent years; apparently lockdown saw games spring up as well, which is where Jack Bradfield got the idea for The Habits, set in a failing board game-themed café in Bromley. Owner Dennis (Paul Thornley) had been hoping to mostly host the role-playing games he fondly remembers from his teen years, but has ended up surrounded by Monopoly players if anyone turns up at all; so he's excited to see a young group set up a weekly D&D game. But there's a sad reason behind these meetings: 16-year-old Jess' (Ruby Stokes) brother died a few months ago, and his best friend Milo (Jamie Bisping) and ex-girlfriend Maryn (Sara Hazemi) have agreed to meet her every week, to help her move on by playing the game her brother loved.

Jess has taken to the role of Dungeon Master like a natural, but still has some questions that an enthusiast could help with, and soon the rather aimless Dennis is serenading them as a bard joining their quest.

He joins the grieving Jess guiding the story, ambitious young corporate lawyer Maryn as a wizard, and self-sabotaging Milo as a busty warrior queen; later Dennis' policewoman girlfriend Bev (Debra Baker,) whom he met at Gamblers Anonymous, will, at first reluctantly, take on a roaming bandit.

Bradfield's gentle comedy-drama is a satisfying slow build: At first a lot of time is spent on the story-within-a-story they're building together and it wasn't quite drawing me in, but as we get to know the characters and what they're dealing with a bit more the way their real challenges feed into the fantasy ones become well-integrated and the heart of the play. There are a few clashes between their actual personalities (Milo has some issues with the part Maryn plays in enabling corrupt corporations, while she has some statistics about the police she'd quite like Bev to hear) but mostly these are their internal conflicts being played out through the game.

Set in one location around a five-sided table, I wasn't sure how visually dynamic the show could be after spending the first scene looking at the back of Stokes' head, but Ed Madden's production switches the characters around with every scene, gradually having them leave the table more as the lives on and off the game board get tangled up together.

For all that the characters are all processing issues of their own this is ultimately centred on Jess, and we see how a game that features character resurrection might not always be the best way for her to deal with real death. The blurring between fantasy and reality comes to a satisfying head in the climactic scene as the others help her get where she needs to be, and all in all this is highly likeable, a suitably light and funny touch to the subject of how our geekier obsessions can help us through the dark times. It didn't make me want to play D&D though.

The Habits by Jack Bradfield is booking until the 5th of April at Hampstead Theatre Downstairs.

Running time: 1 hour 35 minutes straight through.

Photo credit: Genevieve Girling.