Blessed with a great supporting performance from Jemima Rooper, The Harmony Test strikes a strong chord downstairs at Hampstead Theatre
“The language we use is important”
Kash and Zoe are in their thirties and trying to conceive; Naomi and Charlie are in their forties and at the other end of that scale, dealing with empty nest syndrome as they’ve packed their daughter off to university. Richard Molloy’s The Harmony Test looks at how the lives of these four friends intersect as their relationships come under increasing strain due to personal trainers, pregnancy tests and the foreskin of Jesus Christ.
Alice Hamilton’s production initially comes off as a middle-class sitcom, in the well-appointed kitchen of Sarah Beaton’s set design. Its comedy feels well observed as the trials of working through a fertility plan tests Zoe and Kash’s patience to extremes. And as a passing remark to Naomi to join a gym as something to do turns into a full-blown affair with stacked himbo Rocco, she moves into their spare room so she can shag through her mid-life crisis.
The marvellous Jemima Rooper is great value for money as Naomi, almost manic in the intensity of her affair with Sandro Rosta’s Rocco, making an impactful professional debut. Milo Twomey also does well to layer in depth to Charlie, a comparatively underwritten character compared to the others. Their attempts to work out what, if anything, comes next for them feels like hard-won wisdom and entirely believable.
Bally Gill and Pearl Chanda as Kash and Zoe have a slightly more difficult task as their storyline does take a definitive slide towards the more serious. Up to that point, the challenges of spending a year trying to conceive have been amusingly drawn, her tolerance of his man-boy complaints almost stretching credulity but Chanda radiates kindness and Gill has charm aplenty to make us believe. A happy-sad slice of life and love and hard decisions.
Running time: 95 minutes (without interval)
Photo: Richard Lakos
The Harmony Test is booking at Hampstead Theatre downstairs until 22nd June
