How far does the power of empathy take us?
That’s one of the questions being asked in the world premiere of The Last Picture, a new play written by Catherine Dyson and directed by John R. Wilkinson.
Showing at the Studio in York Theatre Royal this week, this play about compassion, imagination and what the human race can be capable of is clever, compelling and entirely necessary.
The play comes to life with the power of imagination. We are asked to imagine ourselves in a theatre in 2026, as a Year 9 class visiting an exhibition, to a citizen of Europe in 1939.
Sam (Robin Simpson), our emotional support dog, guides us through the play and the exhibition, regularly checking in on the audience and doing head-counts to make sure we’re all doing alright and still here.
As a one-man (or one-dog) show, star Robin Simpson gives a tour-de-force performance. Best known to York Theatre Royal goers as the hilariously brilliant Dame for the past six – this year will be his seventh – pantomimes, he’s no stranger to this theatre. However, this performance allows audiences to see all sides of his talent.
He effuses the role with a gentle warmth, and we instantly feel comforted by his presence. He talks to us throughout the play, and as the audience we become a character ourselves, an unwitting participant that doesn’t afford us the privilege to look away.
In fact, it does the opposite. Sam invites us to look at a series of pictures, however no images are presented. Instead, it is down to our imagination as to what we see in these pictures, whether it’s ‘beautiful, boring, or upsetting.’
As we delve further into the Holocaust exhibition, we venture further into 1939’s Europe, and the mounting dread and intensity is judged perfectly by Simpson’s performance and Wilkinson’s direction.
The play never makes any outright connections to current events – families torn apart, people taken from the streets, their homes destroyed – it allows the audience to make their own. This opportunity for reflection within the play is a unique one, and has you thinking long after you’ve left the theatre.
It’s never preachy, a feat it succeeds at through its narrative device of Sam the emotional support dog. He states the facts as they are, honestly and without embellishment or dramatisation – these horrific events don’t need that, and means the emotional punch lands even harder. The weight of history repeating itself, and our own part in it, is heavy.
The simple and stripped back set works perfectly. Designer Natasha Jenkins uses chairs in a multitude of ways to a very effective – and occasionally devastating – result. Aiding our imagination is Max Pappenheim’s soundscape conjuring hope in horror, and Benny Goodman’s lighting design is a fitting degree of dramatic.
The play was one of the winning scripts selected by the RSC for their 37 Plays competition in 2023 – and it’s easy to see why. It’s important that these stories are never forgotten, and as it closes on a hopeful note, it highlights that perhaps, yes, we’ll be okay.
The Last Picture is at York Theatre Royal until Saturday 14 February, before it embarks on a UK tour. Tickets start from £15 and are available via the theatre’s website.
