★★★★★

“The clever dialogue is Pinteresque, full of ambiguity, uncertainty and with an unsettling sense of threat”

New York-based artists, Xhloe Rice and Natasha Roland reprise their Edinburgh Fringe First Award-winning show from 2023 and from this first London performance, that win was well deserved. Because this show is simply sixty minutes of onstage perfection – sassy, snappy and sexy. Described as a “radical, queer dystopia”, the two dynamic co-writers and performers play two 1950’s American housewives, near neighbours in a suspicious American suburb where everyone is peeking through the curtains.

The neon colours of the simple set – blue wooden chairs around a central table and a salmon pink window frame set at a jaunty angle – shine out in the intimate black box theatre space (Lighting Designer, Angelo Sagnelli). Shirley (Natasha Roland) is scrubbing the black and white chequerboard flooring whilst a spaghetti lunch is cooking in the oven. There comes a knock on the door which Shirley is scared to open, but it is only Dotty (Xhloe Rice) from down the road who, ostensibly, has come to return a casserole dish. A power struggle ensues between the two on who gets to hold the dish. The two ladies are dressed in near identical frocks: Shirley in yellow, Dotty in pink – doll-like in appearance, red circles painted on their cheeks, a parody of the stereotypical post-war American housewife. Their conversation is a delightful exaggeration of the banalities of polite intercourse, the couple mirroring each other both in words and actions.

Then strange things begin to happen. We see the same repeated scene over and over, with subtle changes so that we mistrust what we understood was happening. The straight scenes are interpolated with pseudo-dance pieces, movement to music – electronica, techno and rap – out of period with the previous tone. Scenes first interpreted as Shirley’s lesbian fantasies appear to be something more significant after all and as the couple whisper to each other amidst the rave, it appears this is the only safe time for them to truly communicate.

The precise dance steps of the two actors in these scenes, perfect in their synchronicity, are a joy to watch and the pair provide a masterclass in mirroring.

The clever dialogue is Pinteresque, full of ambiguity, uncertainty and with an unsettling sense of threat. Why is Shirley so scared of repeated knocks on the door? What is making the footstep noises from upstairs? Just how much time does Dotty spend in Shirley’s house? What is the mystery of Mrs Nobokov across the road who may have been “taken in”? Each set of dialogue raises more questions until we are ultimately led (should have seen it coming…) to the final question that is the title of the play. Leaving the theatre, there are no obvious answers but much to think on about living in a surveillance society.

WEATHER GIRL

Soho Theatre

★★★½

“It has that kind of unhinged chaotic quality that has become an excellent currency for the funnies”

‘Weather Girl’, from the same producer (Francesca Moody) of ‘Baby Reindeer’ and ‘Fleabag’ fame, is a one-woman cyclone of unhinged peppiness and untethered feminine rage. And Julia McDermott, who plays Stacey Gross the ‘Weather Girl’, is increasingly engulfed by it, much like California itself, whose fires she reports on.

Directed by Tyne Rafaeli, ‘Weather Girl’ is essentially a 70-minute monologue charting Stacey’s psychotic breakdown. And yet, it’s hard not to identify with her derangement. As Stacey, looking like Elle Woods’ protégé, sips prosecco from her Stanley cup, numbing the drones of the male morons who surround her, her actions seem rather justified. The wilful ignorance of those around her abounds; no one respects her or pays her increasingly desperate statements seriously; the world is burning, and people are stupid: does her insanity not appear a hyper-normal response?

The weather Stacey reports on portends apocalypse, and yet, in the last few months in the real world, has become but more prescient. Her part of California, Fresno, is suffering frequent natural disaster-level fire, and drought is on the rampage. The feeling of divine retribution is explicit here.

Nothing about this production is erroneous or feels like a misstep. The staging (Isabella Byrd) is sparse, arranged with cameras and ring lights; it possesses a meta-quality. It’s versatile, complemented greatly by the lighting (and smoke machine) which manages to conjure pathetic fallacy at all turns– it is a show about weather, remember.

The lighting – with the aid of that smoke machine – obscures and darkens the stage as the show progresses, and a magical realism seeps in. I won’t divulge anything more, except that it involves a reunion with Stacey’s mother, who is homeless and usually high, but seems to possess a kind of witchy power that augments her vagabond otherness.

But despite its bleak messaging, ‘Weather Girl’ screams in dark humour. It has that kind of unhinged chaotic quality that has become an excellent currency for the funnies, especially when depicted by women.

One dramaturgical question did arise for me: having reviewed several one-person shows, I still question why? McDermott is wonderful, with constant command of the room, and working harmoniously with Brian Watkin’s nuanced script. But Aeschylus did introduce the second actor for a reason: I feel that rarely would a show’s quality be lessened by introducing a second actor. That said, whilst I don’t think ‘Weather Girl’ justified the one-person show, it certainly excelled within the framework. The Valley Girl accent does also feel a little akin to having pencils thrown at your face for an hour. But you soon get used to that.

‘Weather Girl’ is the kind of art that reaffirms that theatre is and can be polemical without being explicitly didactic or dogmatic. And the world is burning, literally, but just as much metaphorically. We should probably be reminded of that more often, because feeling untethered from reality is fast becoming a refuge of sanity.

WHAT IF THEY ATE THE BABY?

Soho Theatre

★★★★★

“The clever dialogue is Pinteresque, full of ambiguity, uncertainty and with an unsettling sense of threat”

WHAT IF THEY ATE THE BABY?

Soho Theatre

Reviewed on 19th March 2025

by Phillip Money

Photography by Morgan McDowell

Recently reviewed at this venue:

WHAT IF THEY ATE THE BABY?

WHAT IF THEY ATE THE BABY?

WHAT IF THEY ATE THE BABY?

WEATHER GIRL

Soho Theatre

★★★½

“It has that kind of unhinged chaotic quality that has become an excellent currency for the funnies”

WEATHER GIRL

Soho Theatre

Reviewed on 12th March 2025

by Violet Howson

Photography by Pamela Raith

Previously reviewed at this venue:

WEATHER GIRL

WEATHER GIRL

WEATHER GIRL