Alkaline
Park Theatre, London

THIS domestic drama bursts at the seams with ideas. In a mere 75 minutes it explores religious conversion, the place of faith in contemporary culture, parenting, sexual relationships, friendships and middle-class privilege.

That's a lot to cram in and, while Stephanie Martin’s script shows a remarkable ambition, the play’s inherent promise needs more space for those ideas to be followed through.

Rather like Mike Leigh's Abigail’s Party, Alkaline revolves around a soiree thrown by Sophie and Nick, engaged but not in a good place, for their guests Sarah and Ali. She's an old friend of Sophie and a relatively recent convert to Islam while Ali, parent of three young children, has recently separated from his wife.

As the night proceeds, the four navigate the more difficult aspects of contemporary culture in bristling debates on Islam, parenthood and money, with Sarah Meadows’s direction skilfully orchestrating the tension.

Martin offers a specific critique of white middle-class privilege, with none less reflective than Sophie (EJ Martin), who's repeatedly unable to comprehend the texture of lives that don’t mirror her own. Her assumptions about Ali, Claire’s religious conversion and reaction to an all-Muslim class at a Maida Vale primary school demonstrate a thoughtless and unsubtle understanding of what it means to be Muslim in Britain today.

Her prickly anxiety and nervousness in Martin's portrayal is seemingly produced by her inability to comprehend other people’s choices, while Claire Cartwright gives Sarah an impressive calmness in the face of her old friend's lack of empathy, particularly with the arrival of her boyfriend's wife, whose quiet dignity shines through in Reena Lalbihari’s performance.

The downside of Alkaline is that while sometimes the characters offer thoughtful engagements with many issues, they often move on rapidly — Sarah’s conversation about what religion means to her and Ali’s negotiations with his soon-to-be ex-wife about their children, all draw us in but are frustratingly truncated.

This short and intense drama, well scripted, directed and performed, deserves more breathing space.

Runs until August 4, box office: parktheatre.co.uk