“I think I might be an incel.”
It’s the first line Jack Lowden speaks in The Fifth Step, a two-hander play that focuses on the relationship between a recovering alcoholic and his sponsor.
“The line is a bomb – a hot button thing that’s really funny,” says Martin Freeman, who stars alongside Lowden.
From the opening line, audiences may think they know what kind of show they are about to see, but what follows in the 90-minute play isn’t a social lecture, rather a darkly funny conversation between two men – one seeking redemption, the other offering it.
“The incel line doesn’t sum the play up at all,” says Freeman. “It might touch on that, but it has a lot of other components too.”
Lowden agrees, describing it as a “current and easy label” that risks simplifying a piece about shame, honesty and the need to be understood.
Written by David Ireland and directed by Finn den Hertog, The Fifth Step sees Lowden play Luka, a newcomer to Alcoholics Anonymous, while Freeman is an older sponsor guiding him through the 12-step recovery programme.
The play was met with rave reviews by critics during its West End run earlier this year and it is now being released in cinemas.
