Writer: Kevin Lee
Director: Lucinda Freeburn & Annabel Lisk
Reviewer: Christine Stanton
“Engaging Leads“
3 / 5
Maria is outgoing, vivacious and lives her life to the full. Andy on the other hand, is a little more reserved, as an academic he prefers intense discussions about politics to partying until all hours. The pair shouldn’t be friends on paper, but they get along (semi-well).
Andy (Aidan Nicholas) volunteers to come over and help clean up the messy aftermath of one of Maria’s (Ariane Lenihan) house parties. Andy and his girlfriend had popped in for a bit, but after a few tense discussions with Maria’s friends that he definitely doesn’t approve of, he decided to leave early, while Maria carried on drinking long into the following afternoon. The pair chat about life, where they see their futures going and some of the things they’ve struggled with along the way, but is everything being said, or are they holding back on some of the more important conversations they really want to have with each other?
Kevin Lee’s conversational two-hander is an enjoyable show, with the realistic characters made wonderfully likeable by the two lead actors. Nicholas and Lenihan’s on stage chemistry is completely believable and the audience root for the romantic connection between them from very early on in the narrative. Although their opinions and personalities differ slightly, the balance is done well, ensuring they bounce off each other in the right ways. Lenihan perfectly gives Maria a laidback, fun demeanour, that helps Andy out of his shell. Nicholas portrays the cocky yet reticent aspects of Andy fantastically, so rather than being stiff and unlikeable, he’s instead endearing and warm towards Maria.
While the conversations are interesting enough for the most part, there isn’t really enough to fully progress the storyline forward and hook the audience with a concrete plot, until the last 10 minutes or so. The interactions are pretty much solely there to ground the characters and make their personalities clear, but there could be a lot more oomph to them to add a bit of drama/sparkle/intrigue to feel like a fully fleshed out production, rather than just being a fly on the wall between two friends having a normal day-to-day chat.
The final scenes really ramp up the enjoyment of the show, injecting a burst of energy, comedy and romance into the script that hooks and delights. This often feels like the pilot episode of a TV show rather than a 60-minute stage show, even more so when the lights go out and you’re desperate to know what might happen next with the pair’s relationship moving forward.
Runs until 5th December 2024
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