Grounded, Gate Theatre review ★★★★★

George Brant’s Grounded returns to the Gate Theatre, where Christopher Haydon’s production first took flight. After an acclaimed UK premiere at the Gate in 2013, this one-woman show travelled to Scotland, Sweden and Washington DC, attracting more praise along the way. With Lucy Ellinson still in the pilot seat – a woman combat pilot, anonymous and unnamed throughout – and the entire production team returning, Grounded is as gripping and unsettling as ever.

Ellinson tells of her transition from flying planes to flying drones, or, as she puts it, being a member of the air force to the chair force. At first bored by the monotony of being grounded, Ellinson is slowly seduced by the faraway world of war that is also unbearably close.

The displacement she feels is brilliantly mirrored by the condensing of time in Brant’s script. Poetic and unpredictable, it speeds through the pilot’s life, lengthening some moments and omitting others. It makes for a dense and compelling atmosphere as Brant hits hard at the complexities and trauma of fighting so close to home.

Feisty, funny and utterly believable, Ellinson masterfully shades her character’s shift from admiring the blue of the sky to fixating on the grey of the screen. Her increased paranoia about being watched is emphasised in Brant’s staging. Contained in a cube, with little lights shining down on her and the audience surrounding, Ellinson’s fears are valid: she is the subject of our surveillance. Pressure in the cockpit slowly intensifies until the climax.

As Haydon completes his time as Artistic Director at the Gate, Grounded is a reminder of the high quality of work during his residency. And it's worthy of note that Ellinson will deliver her 200th performance in the role during this run. Almost four years since it reached for the skies, Grounded still soars.