★★

“Grier is full of energy, and her performance should bring a drive to the piece”

There are some great ideas in this one-woman deep dive through rom com history, but it loses itself in an increasingly elaborate plot tangle.

We’re welcomed to a live recording of the final episode of a beloved podcast. The podcast is a real-life rom com, each episode following the familiar structure of the genre (there’s a meet cute, a turning point, etc.) The show recaps the podcast series, mixing ‘exclusive live content’ with reminders about the previous episodes. It also explains the slightly convoluted backstory of the podcast, involving a meddling boss wanting to create fresh advertising content for a bus company.

The play is the brainchild of writer/performer Georgie Grier, and producer/director Grace O’Keefe. As is sometimes the case though, with a very small team, it feels like a lot of ideas have been thrown about, and very few have been edited out.

Grier is full of energy, and her performance should bring a drive to the piece, but it is weighed down by its own referential nature. Made all the more obvious by constantly nodding to rom com structure, the play’s own structure is increasingly meandering.

A lot of this is down to Grier’s script. It’s a bit overwritten, and while there are some really funny lines, they often don’t quite land. It references other scripts a lot, often not to its benefit. The character’s intentional awkwardness doesn’t set the audience at ease, and it’s hard to know what we’re rooting for. There’s also an eye rolling twist which undercuts a lot of the character work and makes the story feel stilted and undeveloped. It feels like an easy attempt at an ending, rather than one which feels true to the soul of the show.

“This show has sweet and funny moments,”

However, the soul of the show is sweet. A girl so obsessed with rom coms that she tries to force one for herself. Even though she secretly knows it lacks that rom com ‘sparkle’. If the show had spent more time delving into the character’s development, without as many over explained references, and past podcast episodes, it might have been a lot stronger. Sometimes when something is simpler, it can be more powerful.

This would give a chance for Grier to shine more. Dipping between comedy and the darker scenes she shows incredible range and an admirable stage presence.

The set is simple, a bench, which Grier uses to whip out some physical comedy and impressions. A podcast staple – a side table with jug of water and glasses. And the carol singers sign from Love Actually. There’s also a PowerPoint AV which at times is a strong way to keep the momentum going, or note a rom com reference, but is often a little distracting.

This show has sweet and funny moments, but it is a bit confused and tied up in too much plotting, and too many references.

EDGING at the Old Red Lion Theatre

★★★

“Coates shines the brightest of the pair with his deadpan manner and fearless displays of physical humour”

Edging, a new play by co-writer and co-stars Harry Al-Adwani and Martin Coates, tells the story of Henry and Marcus, two childhood friends who reconnect after five years when Henry needs a place to stay after a break up. When Marcus relents and lets Henry stay, scenes from their childhood together in a seaside town, whose main event the Donkey Derby is clearly the only thing of note, play on his mind.

At its heart, Edging is a story of male friendship complicated by feelings that indicate more. Told mostly from Marcus’ perspective, we learn that Marcus is openly gay, coming out to Henry when they were teens. It’s implied that Henry is straight, having recently broken up with his girlfriend. It’s pretty clear as soon as Henry re-enters Marcus’ life that he feels something more. The piece explores the unrequited love between a gay man and his straight best friend – evoking the obsessive yearning and sexual frustration of adolescence that continues through to young adulthood with tenderness and raucous humour.

Marcus, played by Martin Coates, ironically comes across as the comedic straight man of the duo. But that’s not to say he plays second fiddle to Harry Al-Adwani’s funny man Henry. If anything, Coates shines the brightest of the pair with his deadpan manner and fearless displays of physical humour from Marcus’ incessant masturbation and solo sexual exploits. The piece’s opening tableau sets the tone and a scene with a carrot is particularly, intentionally, cringe-inducing. He is uncanny as Henry’s darling agent, who proclaims there is ‘nothing more important than acting’ between vegetable based terms of endearment.

“The ending is unexpectedly interesting”

Al-Adwani also draws laughs, but more obviously so. He delivers the wise cracks and wink-wink moments that balance against Marcus’ more dry manner. Perhaps it’s part of his character, as an aspiring actor that doesn’t have his life together yet, but he comes across as much more naive. And when, as Henry, he becomes obsessed with fixing Marcus a date, his ‘straight-eye for the queer-guy role’ wears thin quite quickly. Nonetheless Al-Adwani and Coates’ do have good chemistry.

The show is blessed with an extensive set in the steaming hot black box theatre of The Old Red Lion. All action takes place in Marcus’ flat – decked out with plenty of vintage furniture, ‘Milch’ posters, and ‘Cow Juice’ branded milk carton that really show the commitment to Marcus’s career as a milk salesman executive.

However, the story takes too long to reach its climax and at times the staging and temporal shifts feel a little juvenile. The ending is unexpectedly interesting – a case of conflicting memories over the incident that led to their friendship fading five years prior. Rather than wondering who was right, we want to know whether and how the pair will move forward.

Edging is almost a sharp show, carried by the comedic performances, but an overly complex and lengthy plot blunts its potential.

Category Archives: Reviews

Sunsets

★★

Seven Dials Playhouse

SUNSETS at the Seven Dials Playhouse

★★

“Grier is full of energy, and her performance should bring a drive to the piece”

“This show has sweet and funny moments,”

SUNSETS at the Seven Dials Playhouse

Reviewed on 21st September 2023

by Auriol Reddaway

Photography courtesy Georgie Grier

Previously reviewed at this venue:

Steve | ★★★★ | February 2022

Sunsets

Sunsets

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Edging

★★★

Old Red Lion Theatre

EDGING at the Old Red Lion Theatre

★★★

“Coates shines the brightest of the pair with his deadpan manner and fearless displays of physical humour”

“The ending is unexpectedly interesting”