19 June – 5 July

Highly anticipated for its bold vision, Queer Sci-Fi drama Delay brought in a full house on a balmy Tuesday night.

The play follows astronaut Lin (Jyuddah Jaymes), as he’s propelled through the galaxy on a mission to repopulate another planet – and he isn’t returning. But Lin’s epic mission is just a backdrop, at the forefront is Lin’s prolonged goodbye to his husband Silas. The action plays out through voice recordings between the pair, feeling reminiscent of voice notes left during Covid.  A time when separation clawed into the soul of our closest relationships leaving us isolated, raw and unfiltered.

Lin has the tough job of providing the only action on stage, a challenge he meets with pure dynamism as he bounces across the stage listening, skipping, fixing.

Silas, lyrically voiced by Alex Lawther, brings the emotion to the abstract and clinical environment of a spaceship. As Silas recalls their first fight, and his fantasies of them growing old and bearded together, we are immersed in this swansong of a doomed relationship.

With all its dialogue heard retrospectively, Delay relied heavily on what we hear rather than what we see. The production design did some heavy lifting in not only immersing us in this abstract world but transporting us through Lin’s emotional journey. The set felt Kubrick-esque with use of orange and white cleverly capturing both the genre and emotion of the piece. I found myself hypnotised at times by the revolving lights of the spaceship as I listened intently to the message. 

However after an hour I found myself craving more visual stimulation. Delay packed no surprises in its plot, we know from the start that it’s a play about heartbreak and loss. This is a tough ask for an audience to watch – and I’m not sure Delay quite answered why we care. Its ending felt abrupt, which was echoed in confusion from the audience on whether to applaud.

The true strength of the piece was the lyricism of the messages, pairing anecdotes of everyday moments with a humanity centred philosophy, “We keep making mirrors and calling ourselves Gods”.  But I was left wanting a greater understanding of Lin, and the mission he had chosen over the man he loved. That context felt essential in understanding why he had to go and why we, as an audience, should care.

Delay was an ambitious and a times heart-rending exploration of the decline of a relationship, but left me curious to understand how we got here…

★★★☆☆  Beth Teverson, 25 June 2025

Photography credit:  Paul Blakemore