REVIEW: Heartsink by Farine Clarke at Riverside Studios 21 April – 10 May 2026
‘Powerful, poignant and needs saying’ ★★★★
Farine Clarke’s richly compelling play is billed as a “medical comedy”. Yes, it’s wryly witty in places but actually it’s an intelligent, informed exploration of important issues. The word “comedy” doesn’t quite sit right here.
Dr Jeffrey Longford (Aden Gillett) is a much-loved GP of long standing who works in Somerset. His colleague Dr Roofi (Vikash Bhai) is also his closest friend. Cara (Kathy Kiera Clarke) is a patient with hypochondria, second sight and a heartbreaking backstory. Suzie (Megan Marszal) is the receptionist at the cancer clinic where Jeffrey finds himself a patient.
Structured in a series of scenes, each of which is a powerful duologue, the play examines the depersonalisation of people once they become ill. You shouldn’t be patronisingly dubbed a cancer patient (diabetic, asthmatic or whatever). You are a person who happens to be living with one of these conditions – and it’s something which really hits Jeffrey once he becomes ill himself.
Dealing with grief – I had to wipe my eyes when Cara eventually comes clean – and facing the truth of death is key to this play. Jeffrey is trying to protect his own wife and children against Roofi’s passionate, angry advice.
Most important of all is the way the play argues against assisted death – and, by chance, I saw it on the day the House of Lords roundly rejected the bill to legalise euthanasia in the UK. Jeffrey is tempted to sneak off to Switzerland but is, ultimately persuaded not to.
Gillet brings warmth, irritation and total plausibility to the troubled Jeffrey. Bhai is so convincing as a fine doctor and very likeable human being that I’d register with him immediately if his character were real. And Clarke is wistful as the persistent bringer of cake to the surgery – baking represents hope, connection with the past and human interaction – and, at heart, a woman in profound pain.
Marszal is terrific as Suzie. She is initially hilariously and stereotypically vacuous, gradually dropping the pose and revealing to Jeffrey what her background actually is – and the truth amazes him as much as it does the audience. And if the contrast doesn’t quite ring true, it doesn’t matter much within the context of the play.
Of course this play can only end one way and the discussion between Cara and Roofi at the end is very moving.
Matteo Mastrandrea’s simple set works well to support all this. A bright blue desk-like structure and some chairs are whizzed about by the cast between scenes to create three spaces – Jeffrey’s surgery, Roofi’s surgery and the cancer clinic.
There were, I sensed, a number of doctors in the audience on press night which meant amused chuckles at, for instance, the reference to the codes doctors used to use before patients were granted access to their own notes. The usefully ambiguous term “heartsink” connoted a doctor sighing in exasperation.
Heartsink runs only just over and hour and is well worth catching.
Heartsink by Farine Clarke
Directed by Sean Turner
Riverside Studios 21 April – 10 May 2026
BOX OFFICE https://riversidestudios.co.uk/whats-on/Gg-heartsink-a-bittersweet-medical-comedy/
Photography: Lidia Crisafulli
