We were still in the midst of the pandemic when the first ‘Covid play’ opened at the Bridge Theatre, but even Ralph Fiennes couldn’t make Beat The Devil into a compelling enough piece of theatre. Remarkably, it’s taken four years for another play about Covid to come along, in the form of James McDermott’s Jab, which has its premiere at the Finborough Theatre.
The day the UK went into lockdown is where we meet Anne and Don, married for 29 years, they now face the prospect of home confinement with each other. Like the rest of us they’re shocked at what the news is reporting, though each have a different outlook to what may lie ahead.
McDermott navigates the events of 2020 rather skillfully. The terminology of Covid is woven through, highlighting the new lexicon we all had to get to grips with, while we’re reminded how we clapped for the NHS (Anne’s employed by them as an administrator) to distract from the need to pay and protect them properly.
It also highlights the various divides that erupted during Covid. Essential workers versus non-essential, home workers and frontline staff, and people who didn’t have to work at all thanks to financial intervention by the State.
But it also shows the inequality within the marriage itself, Anne is the breadwinner, paying all the household bills while funding Don’s unprofitable vintage shop. Money can often be the source of disquiet in a relationship, and like so much else, that was heightened during the pandemic.
Jab is structured much like lockdown itself, days and weeks roll into one, and our collective memory of the exact timeline is challenged; just how early on was Barnard Castle? Some scenes involve no talking, just visual clues to what this particular day of lockdown entailed. Adam Langston’s increasingly eerie music separates one day from the next, propelling us forward through the pandemic.
As the death toll rises, Anne and Don’s relationship deteriorates, making for a fascinating watch. Dark and troubling themes start to emerge, and the innocent jibes become more calculated and vicious. As the title might suggest, the development of the vaccine becomes an important plot point. Anne is an NHS worker who’s fully behind the vaccine, while Don is a Daily Mail reading anti-vaxxer.
Perhaps because Anne and Don are based on the playwright’s own parents, the characters really resonate. We can easily recognise this couple, and Kacey Ainsworth and Liam Tobin bounce off each other with expert timing, aided by razor sharp direction from Scott Le Crass, which keeps the audience hooked.
In capturing one household’s experience of lockdown, McDermott has successfully captured the mood of the nation. This is an accomplished piece of writing, deftly delivered by the cast and director. This might not be the first play about the pandemic, it certainly won’t be the last, but James McDermott’s Jab is a Covid-era defining play.
Jab is at the Finborough Theatre until 16th March
