5 reasons why you MUST read ‘Lungs’ by Duncan MacMillan
Matt Smith & Claire Foy performing Lungs @ The Old Vic
Ryan Burle
If there is one play in this world that you MUST read it is ‘Lungs’ by Duncan MacMillan. To say this play is a masterpiece would quite frankly be an understatement. In my opinion, it is a bible for how we as humans navigate the complexity of our lives. I’d go as far to say you should be able to find it not just in the arts section of the bookshop, but in the self-help, psychology, and philosophy sections to name a few. In this article, I will discuss the reasons why this two-hander, which takes you on the journey of a couple’s relationship throughout their lives, is a must-read. To Mr. MacMillan, all I have to say is ‘thank you’ for one of the most beautiful pieces I have ever read and performed; not just from an actor’s point of view, but from a human trying to understand this world.
Here is why you MUST read it:
It is a Universally Cathartic Piece
You know as soon as you open the first page that MacMillan is fully aware of the power of his words and wants to guide you in making it specifically powerful to your own cultural, political, and social circumstances. On this first page you are greeted with a blueprint:
‘Performed on a bare stage, no scenery, no props, no mime, no costume changes. No light or sound to indicate place or time, no interval. Forward slashes to mark the point of interruption in overlapping dialogue, a comma on a separate line to indicate a pause.’
Playwrights who use strict staging directions are not a new feat, however, this play is an exception to that rule. MacMillan states the play should be ‘set in the city it is being performed and any references in the text that suggest another place should be amended.’ In reading this you feel MacMillan’s confidence, his guiding ways as if passing this masterpiece down to you and saying in a soft voice ‘do what you will, I trust you.’ This elegant assertiveness shows that MacMillan himself knows that he was writing a universally cathartic piece while giving you the trust to explore and adapt to your needs.
The Indecisiveness of Life
Throughout the text in exactly the perfect moments; the tiny, the large, the life changing. MacMillan greets us with a comma on a separate line. This choice is listed in the stage directions as a ‘pause, a rest or a silence, the length of which should be determined by the context.’ When reading the play, you get some extremely powerful moments of consciousness caused by these small little commas on the page. They act as a reminder that in life we should stop, think and reflect. We all need more of that and MacMillan’s narrative acts as a form of meditative reading.
The indecisive, fast-paced nature of the human mind is forever exposed under the microscope. In one scene the couple have a conversation about not wanting to be boring in their relationship. Over the next few lines, we jump effortlessly in time and place from the couple going to a nightclub to then being at a zoo. This happens in such a smooth and cohesive manner throughout the narrative which highlights our fears of moving onto the next stages of our relationships. MacMillan continually assaults us with situations we can all relate to and ultimately how we all struggle to be content. If we aren’t moving forward, we feel lacking or boring but when we are moving forward, we miss the times when boredom was an option for us.
Life’s Big Questions
During the rollercoaster ride that is ‘Lungs’ we are consistently asked as the audience to consider topics and themes such as: procreation, abortion, infidelity, the environment and even suicide. From very early on in the play MacMillan will really make you as a viewer examine when, how, why and even if it is ever right to bring a child into the world. There is a large emphasis on thinking about this in-depth; how it will change us, how will the child cope with the world it is born into. The philosophical questions posed from the couple asking each other are littered with tons of facts about the environment:
‘I could fly to New York and back every day for seven years and still not leave a carbon footprint as big as if I have a child.’
‘Ten thousand tonnes of CO₂. That’s the weight of the Eiffel Tower. I’d be giving birth to the Eiffel Tower.’
One of the main reasons why this play is so powerful is because MacMillan seems to never tell you how to think, he simply lays facts and ideas on the table for you to assess through the lens of your own morality.
The Big and Small Cataclysmic Moments that Shape our Lives
Throughout the play, MacMillan has such a decadent way of showing all of life’s ‘moments.’ In one scene in the play, we are met with the couple taking a pregnancy test. We see one character struggling to pee on a pregnancy stick because of ‘stage fright’ while the other character offers to run the tap to help the process along. MacMillan repeatedly shows us with such eloquence how these moments are the catalysts to shaping our lives.
The silence of grief is shown to us midway through the play and it is frankly heartbreaking. I could never even conceive the kind of grief that is described in this pivotal scene in the play, yet I cried my eyes out because MacMillan’s words, littered with insecurities and unknowns, are something we can all connect with. After this moment one of the characters goes into a monologue spanning multiple days where they are trying to support and reconnect with their partner who has been completely silent. We are consistently reminded that life’s big disasters make us evaluate and wonder what’s next in our life. MacMillan understands that when we are happy, we are present and when we are not, we plan. Entwined in that notion is the reminder of the struggle we all possess in accepting the bad times.
How Life is Uncertain, and Everything is Temporary
Later in the play, a betrayal happens between the two characters and we get to see in-depth how and why it takes place and how one feels after such an incident. ‘Lungs’ conveys the entire human spectrum of emotion in an admirably non-judgmental way. MacMillan balances the words perfectly between the characters throughout to make it a fair fist fight, at times this makes you dig seriously deep within yourself as an audience member to work out what is ‘right’ and ‘wrong.’ He forces you to investigate your own ideals and start judgment from a place inside yourself. Rather than just deciding the character’s actions it feels as though he pulls your own secrets from within you and makes you assess them for yourself.
After the previously mentioned tragic event in the play, we see the couple grow apart. MacMillan has such a mastery in subverting what you think is the most weirdly perfect, sensitive, NORMAL relationship, there’s no Hollywood, there is just real raw insecurities, a little hope and two people who seemingly understand one another. MacMillan will subvert this, showing that we love who we love; until we change, or more importantly, how a tragic incident such as this, changes us. He reminds us that people, feelings, and everything we know to be true, are all temporary.