How to Fight Loneliness review – death hovers over impossibly awkward social gathering

Park theatre, London
Neil LaBute’s mordant humour comes to the fore in this three-hander, full of hyper-real dialogue, about the right to choose the manner of our departure

Neil LaBute has a good relationship with Park theatre. Two years ago, it staged a production of The Shape of Things that worthily showcased his downright disturbing comedy. Now it premieres his latest work, a contemplative three-hander about our right to choose the time and manner of our death.

LaBute was inspired to write it after losing his mother. His inability to help her out of her pain manifests itself in the story: here he fastens the dilemma he faced on the characters of Jodie, who can’t face another round of chemotherapy, and her husband, Brad, who wants her to go on fighting.