Theatre review: The Unbelievers

It's a bit too vague for me to put my finger on as a meme of the year, but I definitely feel like there have been a lot of shows recently where the overall tone has been at odds with the subject matter, but in a deliberate way that works surprisingly well. Nick Payne's return to the stage is one of the clearest examples of this: We can use the word "hysterical" to mean two very different things, and the way The Unbelievers applies it to the story of a traumatised mother is unexpected and unpredictable. FD Nicola Walker plays Miriam, whose 15-year-old son Oscar didn't show up at school one day, and was never seen again. Payne's story jumps backwards and forwards seven years, from the days shortly after the disappearance when the police are mobilising a task force, to the point where the rest of the family are trying to persuade her that holding a memorial for Oscar might be a good idea, and various moments in between.

It would be unfair on Oscar's father David (Paul Higgins) and siblings Nancy (Alby Baldwin) and Margaret (Ella Lily Hyland) to say that they move on and forget in that time, but they do find ways to process the loss and uncertainty, and live lives not entirely defined by them.

Not so Miriam, who remains almost monomaniacally fixated on her son, unable to focus on anything else, and existing on a constant level of mild panic that makes you wonder how her heart survives it that long. Marianne Elliott's production has a relentless pace that keeps up this uncomfortable intensity, while Bunny Christie's design features a grey waiting room upstage where the cast wait to join the action, giving the impression of Miriam's mind being permanently in that state of waiting for news.

Jack Knowles' lighting casts eerie shadows during scene changes that build the oppressiveness but Payne's most effective tool is the unexpected one, the constant use of comedy - whether it's Miriam's sharp sarcastic responses or actual comic setpieces, this is a dark drama that seemed to have the audience laughing out loud every couple of minutes. It's a way of placing the tragic events within a recognisable world that continues to turn, but it's also a reflection of the form Miriam's barely-suppressed hysteria takes.

She can be incredibly dismissive of anything that isn't to do with Oscar, even the news of Margaret's pregnancy; and a lot of this is expressed in her having to keep down constant attacks of the giggles. I've said before that Walker's biggest acting tool is her smile, which she deploys almost constantly but can make mean an extraordinary variety of emotions. Here the smile is often a pained, panicked one, in disbelief at everyone else's reactions.

Miriam is also adamant that she never gives up on the idea that her son is alive, and while nobody else ever expresses anything different, the title The Unbelievers could be about the way she views their response. On another level it's about how someone deals with trauma without a faith - Miriam is a determined atheist whose first husband Karl (Martin Marquez) became a vicar after their divorce, and her contempt is out in the open for everyone from him to Nancy's new girlfriend, paranormal enthusiast Mia (Isabel Adomakoh Young.) Her frosty presence makes for perhaps the least atmospheric séance ever staged.

Other comic highlights include an awkward dinner party where Margaret's partner Benjamin (Harry Kershaw) goes off on an enthusiastic speech about puffins, with the air of panic extending to David's new girlfriend Lorraine (Lucy Thackeray) realising what her polite show of interest has unleashed. The Unbelievers takes an unusual approach to both comedy and tragedy, but anchored by Walker's typically emotional performance it also feels an unusually honest one.

The Unbelievers by Nick Payne is booking until the 29th of November at the Royal Court's Jerwood Theatre Downstairs (returns and day seats only.)

Running time: 1 hour 55 minutes straight through.

Photo credit: Brinkhoff Moegenburg.