YOU could hear a pin drop in the central scene of Fran Kranz's quietly devastating play about restorative justice. In the meeting room of an Episcopal church, two couples confront their shared past. One of their children is dead; the other killed him.
There's some scene-setting at the start involving Judy (Susie Trayling), her assistant Brandon (Amari Bacchus) and Kendra (Rochelle Rose), the counsellor who has brought them together, though the heart of the drama lies with the two shell-shocked couples. Some years later, the anguish of Jay (Adeel Akhtar) and Gail (Lyndsey Marshal) has not lessened. But Linda (Monica Dolan) and Richard (Paul Hilton) are also grieving the loss of their son, who killed himself after rampaging through his school with a gun, and still question whether they could have done anything to avert the tragedy.
Mass unfolds in real time, and over the course of an hour on Anna Yates's slowly revolving set, the four of them trade memories, questions and words of condolence. The subject exerts a grim fascination, as though we're eavesdropping on an intimate conversation, leaning in as the voices lower.
Kranz adapted Mass from his debut screenplay, which premiered at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival. Director Carrie Cracknell wisely allows the actors to hold the space and control the rhythms of the piece as the characters search for meaning and resolution. The audience's audible weeping testifies to the play's emotional force. It's impeccably acted.
The beautiful strains of a choir rehearsing next door along with the golden rays of sunshine filtering through the windows of Yates's impressive two-tiered set at the end, suggest that forgiveness offers the possibility of acceptance. Until June 6 donmarwarehouse.com/
