Jump

Jump: a small word for a play so large with human complexity, character and conflict. Beverley Wolfe’s tautly written and performed one-woman show spotlights two friends – Julie when she is a bright eight-year-old and Kathy as a disillusioned adult. As children, they shared a shattering event, and Wolfe’s depiction of young Julie as she edges ever closer to that incident is rimmed with a foreboding that will make your scalp crawl. The dichotomy between that event and Kathy’s cool, analytical parsing of jokes and life as she chats to an unseen listener years later underscores the theme of estrangement that Wolfe weaves seamlessly through the play. Gripping, sometimes funny and always honest, Jump is a dark gem. At Arts Court Theatre until June 28.