Lasagna review

Likewise, while Sally considers social workers evil ‘scum’, through former social worker Jane we see these are not child-snatching stormtroopers gleefully destroying families then congratulating themselves on a job well done, but mostly well-meaning professionals overwhelmed by a punishing workload, too often forced to make the least-bad choice. The villain here is not an individual, but an uncaring and chronically underfunded system that thinks of humans as statistics and nuanced, complicated lives as things to be scored on a risk assessment checklist.

Both Lambert and Crame excel. Lambert’s Jane is weary and kind, if occasionally heavy handed, struggling to deal with a cancer diagnosis in the isolation of lockdown, her future in stasis as medical care is put on hold. By turns brittle and confrontational, tender and tough, Crame’s Sally is a woman scarred by a troubled life, only gradually warming to the solicitude offered by her neighbour.

The production is well served by Verity Quinn’s clever set. Deceptively sparse and simple, it gradually reveals a multitude of small, telling details and is beautifully lit by Sherry Coenen, with a subtle soundscape by Roma Yagnik. The story is ideally suited to the intimate studio space at Live, removing any distance between the audience and the protagonists. Because, in truth, there is none; luck and circumstance are the only differences between our lives and theirs.

Laura Lindow’s nimble, witty direction keeps the pace light, never letting the production get bogged down by the weight of its subject matter, while not minimising the seriousness of its themes. It is an othering perspective to treat such lives as simply tragedies or outrages – Lasagna recognises they also contain laughter, warmth and hope.