Heartwarming love story in a world of Down’s syndrome

WH AT a h e a r t e n i n g , i m p o r t a n t , thoughtful and unsettling evening this is. Ben Weatherill shows himself to be an emerging playwright of startling emotional empathy with this careful examination of a love story between a woman with Down’s syndrome and a non-disabled man that many might find troubling.

Jellyfish is anchored by a magnificent performance from the Down’s actress Sarah G o r d y, recent recipient of an

MBE. She gives

the a wonderfully vivid and mischievous turn, dry and witty, as 27-year-old Kelly, long established in a comfortable routine with fiercely protective mum Agnes (Penny Layden). Neil (Ian Bonar), who works in the arcades on Kelly’s beloved Skegness seafront, is kind and gentle, but is a mature relationship, and all that it might entail, between the pair really feasible?

Weatherill commendably doesn’t shy away from some awkward, intimate questions and is supported by a production of immense sensitivity from Tim Hoare.

Gordy is splendidly matched by Layden, who makes Agnes a lioness whenever her precious cub is threatened.

“You have no idea how close to disaster you are all the time”, she growls at Kelly, but perhaps Mum needs to learn that her grown-up little girl is more capable, in all sorts of ways, than she thought.

⬤ Until July 21 (020 8743 5050, bushtheatre. co.uk)