Theatre review: The Harmony Test

Writer Richard Molloy and director Alice Hamilton were the team behind low-key favourite Every Day I Make Greatness Happen in 2018 so their return to Hampstead Downstairs has to be worth a look: The Harmony Test takes us out of the classroom and into the kitchen, but if kids don't show up on stage they're on everyone's minds: Kash (Bally Gill) and Zoe (Pearl Chanda) are trying for a baby; their friends Naomi (Jemima Rooper) and Charlie's (Milo Twomey) only daughter has gone to university, leaving them wondering what's next. Charlie makes an offhand suggestion that Naomi join a gym to get her endorphin hit, something she does with gusto - almost immediately starting an affair with greased-up personal trainer Rocco (Sandro Rosta.) She leaves her husband and moves into Zoe and Kash's spare room, just as the couple get some major news.

Molloy's comedy-drama hits strongly on both counts, with a heartbreaking look at a young couple dealing with a pregnancy that might not be viable, and the pressure it puts on their relationship.

Not quite as traumatic but still considered seriously is the story of the slightly older couple realising their relationship no longer means anything without their child keeping it together, and trying to figure out what's next. But the play comes out of the gates strongly as a comedy, and the wittiness and lightness of touch don't leave the stage even as its concerns get more serious. Rooper has a great time exploring the more hyper elements of Naomi's midlife crisis while Twomey gives some sympathy and personality to a character we don't see that much of.

Rosta seems well aware his character is there to be a preposterously-muscled punchline but still finds a way to make Rocco fit into this setup he's an interloper in, while Chanda is an actor with a lot of natural warmth, so great casting for someone who's essentially the heart of the play, even while delivering her own funny one-liners. Unemployed actor Kash is a manchild with a lot of the best lines, whether that's reacting in an inappropriately laddish way to their attempts to get pregnant or feeling inadequate because the buff Rocco walked in on him in the loo having "a sit-down wee-wee." His naïveté in thinking a random bloke in Holland & Barrett has sold him the foreskin of Christ as a fertility aid is pushing plausibility, but Gill has the charm to just about pull it off.

I wouldn't put this up there with Molloy's earlier play but it still makes for a successful evening - a very entertaining sitcom that smoothly segues into something more serious, and Hamilton's production slickly marshals a great cast around its changing moods.

The Harmony Test by Richard Molloy is booking until the 22nd of June at Hampstead Theatre Downstairs.

Running time: 1 hour 35 minutes straight through.

Photo credit: Rich Lakos.