Review: If Not Tomorrow, The Hope Theatre

A girl in Doc Martens navigates a tangled web behind another, sat in a chair, and a quote from Sappho leaps to mind – “Sweet mother, I cannot weave: slender Aphrodite has overcome me with longing for a girl.”

And with that, we’re launched into the tale of a lesbian break up; not the first, nor the last, but one that breaks hearts and changes lives nonetheless. There is a lot to admire in If Not Tomorrow, and beneath its rougher edges lies the bones of a compelling, tragic love story. The production explores the end of a relationship through a nonlinear structure, revisiting moments from different perspectives and weaving together past and present. It’s an interesting concept, particularly in its suggestion of fate and repetition, but the execution can sometimes make the timeline difficult to follow.

With the performers largely confined to two seats, there is little physical or visual punctuation to distinguish shifts between internal monologue, dialogue, memory and the present. These transitions come thick and fast, and without significant changes in lighting or physicality, moments can blur together. The strings threaded through the production, seemingly evoking Sappho and the idea of fate binding these two women together, are additionally intriguing, though at times feel underutilised rather than fully integrated into the staging.

The performances contain some lovely moments. Ronnie’s (Lucy Hall) more extroverted energy gives the relationship an immediacy, while Isla (Anya Basu Chaudhuri) is comparatively played with a particularly lovely stillness. Still, I often wished Ronnie had been given more space to slow down and find the quieter, more internal moments beneath her character’s surface. Some movement within the staging could help to break up that stillness and give the performers more opportunities to inhabit the space.

Sound was also occasionally challenging. The production uses the constant noise of rain, which, combined with the practical need for fans on one of the hottest days of the year (and the government alert causing slight disruption ahead of start time), dialogue was at times difficult to hear. At points, one performer seemed muffled while another compensated by projecting so strongly that it altered the dynamic of their conversations.

The production seems to find its stride just as it ends, meaning there’s natural room for improvement and growth. The final moments contain a real emotional heart, but the conclusion arrives abruptly, leaving little time to sit with characters we have begun to care about. This doesn’t need to be a happy ending, but allowing these final moments to breathe could make the emotional impact much stronger.

There is undoubtedly something compelling at the heart of If Not Tomorrow. A timeless tale of heartbreak, with some refinement to the script and staging, its ideas of love, loss and fate could develop into something genuinely affecting.

Writer: Lucy Hall
Director: Emily Hayward
Presented as part of the North Sapph-Fest 2026

If Not Tomorrow has completed its run