Guess How Much I Love You? at Royal Court Theatre Review

Through director Jeremy Herrin’s assured guidance, the unnamed pair —played with seeming effortless realness by Rosie Sheehy and Robert Aramayo — traverse news which is both harrowing and complex, as reflected by the raft of trigger warnings and front of house assistance available to those who may experience unexpected, normal and valid emotional reactions to the content.

So, just what is that content, and how much can I divulge without ruining the play for anyone yet to see it? Well, suffice to say, hackneyed platitudes which refer to a rollercoaster of emotions, won’t cut it. Fact is, this is visceral storytelling and there are multiple occasions where you will feel a catch in your throat as you attempt to disassociate yourself as a viewer, from the heartbreak which is being presented.

For those familiar with Sam McBratney’s children’s books about the family of nut-brown hares - also entitled Guess How Much I Love You? - the play is rooted in love and kindness for a child. Here, it is also searingly etched into love and kindness between a couple who have to face awful choices together, and where being kind to one another isn’t always an easy state to achieve. The staging is punctuated by 30 second black-outs during which the set is altered from scan room, to bedroom, to hospital delivery room and so on. Each phase of the couple’s ordeal informs their conversation from jovial sparring and collective playful banter to divisiveness of excoriating and explosive lashing out, particularly where his parents also imbue decision making with an unwelcome essence of Catholic guilt. Decisions which, by virtue of physical roles, will always be fundamentally different for a man and a woman. Be warned, for audience members, it is an emotional experience which is unlikely to leave you unscathed.

Thankfully, the overwhelming majority of patrons will never have to endure the situation in real life, nor have to make the horrific decisions required of the couple in question. But in view of that fact I would still urge everyone who is able, to attend a performance of Guess How Much I Love You? The production runs 1hr 45mins straight through and continues until 21st February.