“it is it is it is it’s fucking enormous, fucking enormous, the purpose of life itself, the purpose, the meaning, the meaninglessness, the love and the horror and the hope and the fear and everything the volume of all of it turned right up, the rest of your life the rest of someone else’s life committing someone to something forever” —Lungs
The world is getting hotter, there’s unrest overseas—the seas themselves aren’t very calm—and one couple is thinking about their future. Lungs, Duncan Macmillan’s two-character chamber drama, follows a couple as they grapple with what should be a simple question: Is it time to think about having a child? But, as becomes abundantly clear in the first minutes of the play, no question is simple for this couple. They have some ideas about what their adult lives will look and feel like, but so far they’re just ideas: Are they ready for life to get a lot more real?
Moving at the speed of thought, Lungs follows the couple through the surprising lifecycle of their relationship, slipping from conversation to conversation and spanning some 50 years. As their thoughts and actions accelerate, the couple wrestles with questions of family, betrayal, their sense of their own goodness, and the destructive edge of optimism.
Lungs is the inaugural production of the Studio Lab. Dedicated to stripped-down productions of new plays with affordable tickets, the Studio Lab is part of Artistic Director David Muse’s plan to build on Studio’s reputation for sophisticated contemporary writing by developing and producing new work. Duncan has been in residence at The Studio Theatre during the rehearsal process, honing the script and working with the actors and production team to prepare the premiere of the piece, which will open in the UK later in the fall at Paines Plough and Sheffield Theatres in a rolling premiere with The Studio Theatre.