Lungs

A play by Duncan Macmillan — Claire Foy and Matt Smith at The Old Vic, October 2019

“It’s such a shock, it’s such an enormous, you can’t just say something like that to someone, you can’t just say that to me and expect me to just be fine and rational and clear-headed…” Claire Foy splutters exasperatedly in response to Matt Smith’s seemingly innocent proposition that he and his wife try for a baby as they wait in the queue at IKEA.

You’d be forgiven for thinking that Duncan Macmillan’s Lungs (2011) had been written specifically for this notorious duo, for not only does their unmatched chemistry, first exhibited through their relationship in The Crown translate so expertly to the Old Vic’s stage, but the lines of the play itself could not be more timely. Foy and Smith, known only as ‘W’ and ‘M’ in the script and whose characters remain deliberately unnamed throughout, deep-dive into the prescient anxieties facing modern day couples.

Smith’s suggestion snowballs into a calamitous back and forth between the pair as they debate the issues surrounding the impact of procreation on our diminishing planet. The arguments are laboured but astute, with Foy’s neurotic character doubling back over her statements, constantly questioning and responding to her own self doubt. Smith, the more laidback of the two, quibbles with her quandaries adding his sarcastic voice with impeccable timing. The two weave in and out of conversations focussing on the everyday to the existential, reminding each other that they are “good people”, ones who recycle, ride bikes and retweet articles. They give to charity, buy fair trade and use Bags for Life. They are also acutely aware of the impact that bringing a child into the world would have on their carbon footprint. “I could fly to New York and back everyday for seven years…” Foy cries, “ten thousand tonnes of CO2. That’s the weight of the Eiffel Tower. I’d be giving birth to the Eiffel Tower.” Although, at times ridiculous, Foy and Smith’s conversations hammer home some uncomfortable truths. Macmillan’s heart-wrenching plot and exploration of these troubling issues means that whilst the play is centred around the lives of an educated, middle-class couple, Lungs, transcends its original context given the relevance of the concerns they discuss.

Macmillian’s work not only shows the fragmentation of modern life, but under Matthew Warchus’ direction the couple expertly capture the fragility between the heartfelt and the absurd. The play is an emotional rollercoaster dramatically expressing the uncertainty of our future. A powerful portrayal of love, strength and compromise in a challenging climate and Foy and Smith’s nuanced performance adds a striking gravitas to this particularly current production.

Read Duncan Macmillan’s thoughts on Lungs here.