Guess How Much I Love You? at The Royal Court Review
Written by Eloise for Theatre & Tonic
Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in exchange for an honest review
Guess How Much I love You? by Luke Norris follows the lives of Her (Rosie Sheehy) and Him (Robert Aramayo) a young couple expecting a baby. The play begins at their twenty-week scan where we realise something isn’t quite right and jumps time to some of the most significant moments in their relationship from that point onwards. Without spoiling the play, it deals with some very heavy themes but always with humour, sometimes very dark humour – and with heart.
Rosie Sheehy is an absolute powerhouse, with powerful moments which will tear your heart out. Robert Aramayo helps patch your heart back up with his sarcasm and quips - but only just enough to leave you walking out of the theatre in one piece. You’re still left with an aching, though only a fraction in comparison to the pain shown on stage. The experience of live theatre is for plays like this - plays which allow an auditorium of people to sync their heartbeats together and have them beat to the same pain as the characters on stage. I felt every twinge of sadness, every laugh, every regretful rebuttal in an argument. Guess How Much I love You? is the point of theatre!!
The set does a good job at naturalism and making the characters feel engulfed in the reality of their lives – with every fluorescent at the hospital and every grimy bathroom tile. The set actually physically gets smaller from the first scene. But by the final scene there is a wonderful sense of expanse which is needed by this point - offering a wider sense of hope. It’s a nice way to leave the audience, when the play could have easily finished in the previous scene. Though this sudden change in style could be suggestive of the final scene being the dream that the couple have both described throughout the play... I choose to believe it’s a continuation of their real life.
I feel the play is let down slightly in its pacing - which can feel sometimes set in a formula of fast paced sarcasm or argument and then a harrowing moment of silence, then a reconciliation- repeated throughout the scenes in different locations. This sandwiched with blackout transitions in silence left me wanting slightly more from the production. Though a blackout can allow the audience to ponder on the scene before (and the actors and crew did need time for long transitions for set and costume changes) blackouts can also suck the energy from a previous scene. A palate cleanser perhaps for some, but for me - I wanted to be kept in that unpalatable purgatory which the characters were in. For a production which shares so much with its audience, and being 95 minutes straight through, I didn’t want to be shut out during the transitions.
Sheehy is so beautifully naturalistic, it is a masterclass in theatre performance, and I can confidently say she is one of the best stage actresses of our generation. This is the second time I have seen her live, first being in Machinal at the Old Vic, and she brings everything to her performances - never shying away from intensity or rawness. Sheehy is magnetic.
There is something so human about this play. It shows the darkest moments of grief and love, and how two people can go through it all together and yet still drift away from themselves and each other. As the characters say - there is just before and after, “There is no back. There’s only this”. And as an audience member I feel I cannot go back to myself before, I am changed by this play, I am now in the after. What a privilege to be impacted in such a way.
Guess How Much I Love You? Is playing at The Royal Court Jerwood Theatre Downstairs until Saturday 21st February 2026.
Content warnings: Contains moments of full black out, discussion and depictions of pregnancy complications and baby loss including abortion,themes of suicide/suicidal thoughts, strong language.
★★★★
