So far, A G Anderson’s short Detachment is the first play on the Online@theSpaceUK site to reference directly the ongoing health crisis.
During lockdown, married couple Toby (Malcolm Jeffries) and V (Gemma Wray) are living separately and communicating via video chat. Toby is a frontline health worker and the stress of his daily workload is so intense, he loses the necessary detachment to be objective and takes rash action when an acquaintance betrays his trust.
Jeffries and Wray make a convincing couple and there is a fine, flirty opening to establish their relationship. However, the sheer brevity of the ten-minute running time limits the effectiveness of the play.
Author A G Anderson sets up an intriguing moral dilemma but lacks time to explore it thoroughly. As a result, Detachment feels like a work-in-progress that may be developed into a more complete version at a later date.