Last week I had the pleasure of going to see Headlong’s People, Places and Things at Theatre Royal Bath. The show follows a woman, Emma, through her journey attempting to recover from substance addiction at a rehab clinic. It explores the personalities and issues that can lead to addiction, and fragile nature of recovery.

The show uses seating on-stage to mimic the original traverse staging in London, however I’m not sure this entirely works in a traditional theatre setting and does feel a little unnecessary, and therefore gimmicky. However, the rest of the stage design is fantastic, perfectly creating the surreal, clinical environment of the rehab centre.

Certain moments feel very naturalistic and real, giving a great grounding to the drama on stage. However other moments, for example when Emma is detoxing, drift into the surreal and blur the lines of what is actually happening and what is just in Emma’s drug-fuelled head. It’s a fantastically effective device, introduced right at the start when Emma snorts her remaining supply in the reception of the clinic, slowing down time and altering her perception of the events around her.

The cast is fantastic. It takes a little while to get on board with Emma’s compulsive lying and larger-than-life personality, which is a little jarring at first. However, once you start to glimpse the real, damaged person underneath the bravado, played heartbreakingly by Lisa Dwyer Hogg, you really do feel for her and her situation. Supporting cast members of note are Ekow Quartey’s Foster and Amdrew Sheridan’s Mark, Emma’s two key guides in navigating the world of the clinic.

It’s a tremendously moving piece, examining how addiction is never really cured. We see several characters fall off the wagon, getting booted off the rehab programme or worse, and the stakes are very real.

The pace does drop a little about halfway through the (slightly over-long) first act – especially noticeable as the majority of the play has an almost frantic energy. I think a little editing to tighten this up would really keep the audience engaged right through the action.

Overall, it was a fantastic exploration of addiction and the issues that can lead to it, and I’d highly recommend it as it’s doing the rounds in Bath and Bristol over the next few weeks.