It seems cruel that the difference between ‘love’ and ‘loved’ is just one letter. Or ironic. It’s a cruel irony, let’s say, that it takes a simple letter for love to become a thing of the past when we know the reality is far more complex. Joanna Murray-Smith’s 1995 Honour keeps that complexity front-of-mind.

A hundred-minute drama following the breakdown of a 32-year-long marriage and its aftereffects, it propelled Murray-Smith into the stratosphere as a playwright when it premiered in New York. Lauded productions on Broadway and the West End, boasting a laundry list of A-list celebrities (from Meryl Streep to Laura Linney), soon followed.

So it makes sense that Red Stitch Theatre would revive it to launch its 2025 theatrical season (which, in fact, has just been extended). But this revival from director Sam Strong is curiously lifeless.  

At one point, Honor (Caroline Lee) likens the process of dividing one’s estate in divorce to stripping flesh from bone. It’s a line she lobs at her ex-husband, George (Peter Houghton) in one of the many heated arguments that structure the show. Murray-Smith packs her script full of similar kernels of deep...