GUESS HOW MUCH I LOVE YOU?

Royal Court Theatre

★★★★★

“keeping you engaged from start to end and revealing deep truths along the way”

A couple waits in a hospital room, on the brink of labour. To pass the time, they play 20 Questions, trying to guess a character.

“Am I alive?”

“Maybe?”

Small, playful moments that feel ordinary and deeply intimate.

Rosie Sheehy, as the woman in labour, invites us into her world with a blunt, feminist voice that is both exquisite and hilariously honest. Robert Aramayo plays her partner with warmth, playfulness, and unwavering support, matching her wit beat for beat. Together, they give the immediate sense of a couple who have been together forever, who know each other inside out, who can talk about absolutely anything.

Written by Luke Norris, the play is rich with beautiful humour and a powerful, deeply felt depiction of a relationship riding an emotional rollercoaster. The jokes are sharp and natural, immediately welcoming us into the profound bond these two people share.

It soon becomes clear that the humour does more than showcase their connection – it also acts as a shield, attempting to mask an underlying tension slowly rising beneath the surface. No one – neither the couple nor the audience – is prepared for what’s to come.

Sheehy and Aramayo’s performances are undeniably stunning. They hold you in a constant state of attention, your eyes fixed on them. Through silence, emotional vulnerability, and moments of lightness, they offer their entire emotional world with generosity and precision. Their chemistry is electric, allowing us to witness the full arc of their relationship and individual emotional journeys with striking clarity.

Lena Kaur also appears as the midwife, delivering a beautiful performance that is equally funny and grounded.

Directed by Jeremy Herrin, the transitions between scenes are beautifully handled. Grounded in a realistic set designed by Grace Smart, we move swiftly through hospital rooms and private spaces, travelling with the couple across different times and places as their story unfolds. We are with them in every moment of their life together.

The story confronts the hardest moments that any couple – or any person – may face. A recurring thread weaves through the play, returning us again and again to questions that intensify its emotional core:

How do I love you when the sun no longer makes sense?

How much do I love you when part of me no longer feels alive? When sadness takes over?

It is not a comforting, “everything will be fine” kind of show. It doesn’t promise happy endings or ideal outcomes. Instead, it offers truth about real relationships, real hardship, and the terrifying choice between leaving or staying. It is about facing yourself and the other at their worst, and choosing love anyway.

Guess How Much I Love You captures this with raw authenticity, keeping you engaged from start to end and revealing deep truths along the way.

A few scenes may linger slightly longer than necessary, but this is minor compared to the emotional richness the play leaves behind. A work of rare honesty – and an absolute must-see.

GUESS HOW MUCH I LOVE YOU?

Royal Court Theatre

Reviewed on 22nd January 2026

by Nasia Ntalla

Photography by Johan Persson

GUESS HOW MUCH I LOVE YOU?

EVERY BRILLIANT THING

@Sohoplace

★★★★★

“The contrast between melancholy and hilarity is the essence of the production’s potency”

They are the most dreaded two words in the English language after perhaps “world war” and “admin fee”.

Audience participation.

Eek.

But don’t worry, in this atmosphere of non-judgmental glee, you’re in safe hands. The host is the genial Lenny Henry, comedy legend and close personal friend, or so it always seems.

This is vital. Because volunteers relax, lean in and Henry creates an atmosphere of ramshackle fun.

And, besides, mostly the guests are pre-selected. In a wonderful innovation, the star wanders around pre-show, chatting, meeting the audience and selecting his co-stars based on decades of experience reading an audience.

The worldwide phenomenon that is Every Brilliant Thing began life in 2006 as a short monologue Duncan Macmillan wrote for actor Rosie Thomson. Co-director George Perrin encouraged him to expand it, and the pair gathered hundreds of “brilliant things” from a Facebook group. Comedian Jonny Donahoe later pioneered its interactive style – he takes over from Henry later in August.

It premiered in its full form at the 2014 Edinburgh Festival Fringe before transferring internationally to over 80 countries. While the events in the play sound autobiographical, they are crowdsourced. They draw on genuine experiences, research, and real audience contributions, so that’s why it feels so authentic. It’s not true and gob-smackingly true at the same time.

Audience members play parts large and small: his girlfriend, his father, the librarian (with sock puppet Graham). Their real-life sincerity dealing with the character’s woes melts hearts. Others, dotted around the auditorium, read out cue cards of “every brilliant thing” when their list number is read out.

The narrative begins on 9 November 1965, when our character, aged seven, finds himself in hospital because his mother, a chronic depressive, has tried to kill herself. His artless solution is to write a list of every brilliant thing that might persuade his mum to stay on this earth.

“One…” calls out Lenny Henry.

“Ice cream,” says a man reading from his cue card.

And so on…

His mother survives but does not shake off her illness and over decades the list grows from the original target of 1,000 to one million.

The character’s own life is a simple story of growing up, moving away, meeting a girl and living with the legacy of a suicidal mother while coping with the illness himself.

It is part lecture on mental health, part improv night, part alchemic magic show. Henry creates such a remarkable sense of supportive goodwill that when he announces he – a shy lad – has kissed a girl, the audience whoops, as though their BFF has just made the revelation on the group chat.

Lenny Henry plays this part for now. Others take over in the run, including Minnie Driver and Sue Perkins. Wonderful though they will likely be, it will be a challenge to top Henry’s masterful control. He has to act, yes, but also direct a troupe of amateurs. From this, there is random blundering and Henry’s improv instincts and natural charm let him ramp up the fun exponentially.

The contrast between melancholy and hilarity is the essence of the production’s potency. Laughter through tears: the sweet spot of teachable moments.

Tag Archives: Jeremy Herrin

GUESS HOW MUCH I LOVE YOU?

★★★★★

Royal Court Theatre

GUESS HOW MUCH I LOVE YOU?

Royal Court Theatre

★★★★★

“keeping you engaged from start to end and revealing deep truths along the way”