People Will Think You Don’t Love Me (KXT Broadway) ★★★★

Written by Joanna Erksine. World Premiere. KXT Broadway.15-30 Nov. 2024.

It’s a horror trope we know well. The protagonist has a transplant (a heart, a brain or an arm usually) and they become possessed by the original owner’s spirit, ala 1991s trashy ‘Body Parts’. In People Will Think You Don’t Love Me, writer Joanna Erskine plays with these fantastical genre trappings to give us a relationship drama between a young married couple and the girlfriend of an organ donor.

Told in a not-always-linear fashion, we meet Michael (Tom Matthews) and his wife Liz (Grace Naoum) as they visit Tomasina (known as Tommy, played by Ruby Maishman). It’s awkward and no one knows what to say. They want to thank Tommy for the fact Michael’s life was saved by a heart transplant from her dead boyfriend, a musician named Rick, but Tommy stands confused and slightly annoyed. As Michael continues to recover, and he and Liz start to adjust to their new, healthier lives, Michael finds himself visiting Tommy again, to learn more about Rick… and hopefully explain why he can suddenly now play the guitar and piano.

The first thing that hit me watching People Will Think You Don’t Love Me, was how good these three performers were. There’s a real sense of relief you feel when you don’t see the actor, you only see the character, and there is nothing to break that illusion. Erksine’s script is driven by subtext and unspoken thoughts that are writ large in the eyes of all three characters. Smart direction by Jules Billington never overplays the emotions but keeps things tightly, realistically, in check. 

The psychological horror vibes are driven by some great sound design and composition by Clare Hennessy that creeps up on you and pushes things just far enough to let you acknowledge what it’s doing. Sam Wylie’s production design hides things in plain sight in a simple apartment set up. 

But it all comes down to Erskine’s text which is hooky enough to tease you along through the uninterrupted two hours-ish running time. It’s a good balance between the domestic drama (is Michael cheating on Liz with Tommy?) and the supernatural (is Michael slowly turning into Rick?). The final speech by Liz lays out the issues with neat, emotional resonance that brings it all back home.

If it starts to overstay its welcome, it’s because the storytelling is neat and clear, and the emotional stakes are well established. You may know, or think you know, where the story is going, but it’s the journey that makes this trip worthwhile.