This is a play about restorative justice. Two couples, the parents of their sons who were involved in a school shooting some years ago meet for the first time in a church meeting room. One couple are the parents of a child who was shot and the other of the shooter. Both sons were killed in the incident.
As would be expected there was a substantial amount of apprehension on the part of both couples about meeting face-to-face for the first time. They sit one on each side of the table and talk. That is basically all that happens in this play for 90 minutes of its 1 hour 40 mins playing time. We gradually learned about the events which happened on that fateful day, and the background, particularly of the shooter in the years preceding and the anguish of both sets of parents. But we learned very little which would help us, or them, understand why this dreadful event occurred and although the two couples finish their conversation in a civilised manner it was unclear that the encounter actually made much difference to any of them.
The play attempted to be highly realistic. Hence the almost total lack of movement with the four actors anchored to the chairs, for virtually the entire play. The playwright, Fran Kranz, explains in his programme note that he was attempting at achieving what he called “verisimilitude”. He writes in disparaging terms of actors who project their voice so the entire theatre can hear them. So, the actors spoke for the most part in quiet voices, as they probably would have done in real life. The result was that some of the dialogue was inaudible. The table around which they sat revolved slowly so that all the audience, on three sides and of the Domar’s playing space were presented by a continually changing aspect of the conversation, but it meant that, at least one, if not two, of the actors had their backs to the audience at any one time, further reducing audibility.
Some may find this method of presentation appealing. My view is that people come to the theatre to “hear” play and it is the job of the actors and the director to make sure that they can. I also question the assumption that in order to portray real emotions and events onstage, it is necessary to portray them as they would have actually happened. The nature of theatre is artifice. Effective theatre does this without it seeming forced.
Fortunately, the actors, particularly the four actors playing the two couples, were very accomplished and made the most of their highly constrained setting. A lot of effort had been put in by the set designer, Anna Yates, to create an impressive set, representing the modern meeting room in the church with glass doors, a kitchen and an upstairs corridor. But this was incidental since all the action was focused around the revolving table.
If you want to see an effective play about restorative justice, I would recommend Punch by James Graham.
Mass is playing at the Donmar Warehouse until 6th June 2026. Tickets are available from https://www.donmarwarehouse.com/events
Reviewer: Paul Ackroyd
Reviewed: 30th April 2026
North West End UK Rating: