Nia Gandhi and Rhys Parry Jones are a tour-de-force in this two-hander play from the newest company in residence at the Sherman Theatre, Red Oak Theatre. Red Oak have set out to be a design-led company and this is clear from the offset with the stylish ‘forest canopy’ above the performance space, featuring various elements that will be used throughout the play. The canopy creates intriguing swirls and patterns across the stage and dapple the actors’ faces in a poignant reminder of the play’s key theme of nature healing us through grief.

Gemma Prangle makes her playwrighting debut here and the piece is one that came about quite unexpectedly for Gemma. In a similar fashion to the way grief itself grows, changes, adapts, the writing of this piece found a way to be told through Gemma. I found that there were lots of moments throughout that particularly resonated and I enjoyed the counterbalancing of speech between David and Mali, his 17 year old daughter. There was also a clear link here with Gemma’s dancer and movement director work; clever use of space and bodies; the space used to great effect and even each actor being utilised to their full potential in fluid (or not so fluid, as the mood dictates) movements across the floor creating tableaus that make us laugh or equally bring us close to tears.

Nia Gandhi captures the essence of Mali with ease; she bounds across the stage with childlike enthusiasm at first and her delivery of the comedy lines at the beginning especially are expertly handled. Her relationship with her father, David, is delivered with balance and poise. She has exuberance on one hand and quiet contemplation on the other. It is an assured performance from a gifted actor.

Rhys Parry Jones is also fantastic, the timbre of his voice perfectly counterbalances the quieter, more contemplative Mali. Line delivery is very good, the moments of comedy drawing laughs from the crowd but he is devastating in his moments of grief and anger. He stares into the very souls of us as audience members, his eyes reliving every moment of his wife’s impending death and his outburst at realising she was gone absolutely broke my heart.

Particularly worth mentioning is the ‘birthday scene.’ Mali, seemingly oblivious to the inevitable demise of her mother, pulls together decorations, puts on her mother’s best shoes and dress and sings along to ‘Uptown Girl.’ The entrance of David into this ‘happy’ scene is truly heartbreaking and was an image that stayed with me long after I’d left the studio. It is the perfect way of showing how each of us deals with grief in different ways and the splinters that occur in our relationships when these ways of coping do not quite match up.

Splinter is a difficult but truly worthwhile watch. There are content warnings galore and it is hard to listen to the raw, unfiltered emotions but they are emotions we can recognise all too easily in ourselves. A mention though to the volume of lines; as someone who struggles a little with hearing and due to the piece being in the round, I sometimes struggled to hear certain lines when the actors were turned away from me. I found myself leaning forward in my seat as I did not want to miss a single line! However, this is a small thing in an overall assured and confident first production from Red Oak Theatre and Gemma Prangle. I look forward to seeing what they will come up next!