An emotional tale of passionate love as it blossoms and decays

Bristol Old Vic's first show of 2026 is a passionate, heartbreaking, contemporary tale of love and loss. NATALIE BANYARD caught up with actress Hannah Sinclair Robinson to talk about Lost Atoms

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BRISTOL Old Vic is welcoming in the new year with the latest Frantic Assembly offering, Lost Atoms, and it looks set to be one of the cultural highlights of 2026.

Written by acclaimed playwright and screenwriter Anna Jordan (Succession, Killing Eve, One Day, The Unreturning), and performed by award-winning theatre-makers Frantic Assembly, Lost Atoms is an emotionally charged and visually impressive piece documenting the blossoming and decay of a passionate love.

The much-anticipated production, which tours to Bristol Old Vic from January 13 to 24, has been garnering phenomenal reviews for its authentic story, mesmerising performances, and striking, highly physical staging.

The intensive two hander stars Joe Layton, best known for his appearances in ITV's Coronation Street and Marvel's Agents of SHIELD, as Robbie, and Hannah Sinclair Robinson, whose work includes BBC's Doctors and Eastenders and UK tours of Metamorphosis and The Play That Goes Wrong, as Jess.

"Lost Atoms is a funny, heartbreaking story about a couple's roller coaster relationship," says Hannah, who trained at East 15 Acting School and Bath Spa University. "Expect laughter, tears, and everything in between."

Lost Atoms takes the idea that our memories are unreliable as its central theme. If our interactions with people, especially our intimate relationships, shape us into the people we are, what happens if our memories of these are not so solid? What if our partners do not agree about the moments that made us? Was our relationship what we thought it was? Are we who we thought we were?