“The show moves along at a fast pace and there is never a dull moment”
The thought of attending a play described as a ‘dark, savage and unflinching exploration of lesbian subculture in London’ has the potential to polarise an audience and it was with an element of apprehension that I arrived to see Grotty at The Bunker. I left having seen a terrifically well written, acted and directed piece of modern theatre.
Grotty is a fast moving, darkly funny yet ultimately sad semi-autobiographical story, written by and starring the award winning Izzy Tennyson who had recent success with Brute. She is Rigby, an anti-hero who joins the Dalston lesbian scene in London and whose life centres around two very different women. Together they form a triangle and narrator Rigby brings us into her world often speaking directly to the audience with flashbacks explaining her journey.
On entering the theatre we are greeted by a simple but detailed set and are transported to a basement club where it is ‘Clam Jam’ night (a phrase I had to look up on the internet!). The audience then witnesses a sub-culture that has often been confined to the basements of gay clubs and we see some women behaving really badly.
Grotty has a stellar cast of five, playing nine parts and each actor is a joy to watch. Tennyson takes centre stage with her portrayal of Rigby. She has a style of delivery that surely has potential for a far wider audience. The two scenes where she describes lesbian sex and takes some recreational drugs are extremely clever and very funny. Rebekah Hinds convincingly plays two very different characters; firstly the overpowering love interest Toad and also straight Kate. Grace Chilton also plays two parts. As the Witch she is heavily into BDSM and takes Rigby to some dark places. She also plays Elliot who is a completely opposite character and has a great influence in Rigby’s life.
Anita-Joy Uwajeh takes on three very different roles as Natty, Josie and Dr Alexandra. She plays each role with passion and conviction. Completing the cast is Clare Gollop who appears towards the end of the play as Rigby’s mother and whose role really is key to the whole piece.
Hannah Hauer-King’s direction is perfect. The show moves along at a fast pace and there is never a dull moment. However in the first half of the show some of the humour was lost as the cast often continued speaking before the audience had finished laughing. Designer Anna Reid’s set is basic but the use of square pouffes enabled the cast to easily transport us from seedy nightclub to ‘posh flats’. The lighting design from Zoe Spurr was simple but effective as was Alexandra Faye Braithwaites’s sound design.
Writer Izzy Tennyson and Kitty Wordsworth from Damsel Productions should be proud of this show. It has comedy, pathos, some wickedly funny, if questionable, behaviour and is a joy to watch.
“Though the pieces are wildly different there is a real sense of cohesiveness to the evening”
Two people emerge like caterpillars from giant white drawstring bags, into a place where there is only floor, and nothingness stretches endlessly either side of them. They do not know if they are asleep, awake or even dead, they do not know their names, they do not know each other. ‘Something from Nothing’ by Lynn-Steven Johanson starts off beautifully, both visually – white bags, white floor, matching white clothes – and in terms of its concept. A space of possibility is created, asking us what we would do if the structures by which we define our existence were suddenly gone. Michael Waller and Athena Bounti work well together, but I would have been interested to see this piece developed further to allow the characters a chance to really interact. I wanted more depth, and the piece needed to be tighter as it began to lag after its opening.
In ‘Less Than 3’ by Tom Kinney, George (Faidon Loumakis) is at a meeting with his match making service. They have found him a better match. He’s happy with Julia, he claims, but they insist he would be four percent happier with Claudine. That’s two weeks less of unhappiness a year, around two years less of unhappiness across a lifetime. This is dating in the digital age. The script is witty and sinister in equal measure, certainly topical in a world dominated by technology and particularly dating apps which promise to find you the love of your life via equations. However again it lags towards the end and both actors struggle to push through this.
In a modern art gallery, a couple watch a film of a man emptying leaves out of a wheelbarrow, sweeping them up, putting them back in and then emptying them out again to start over. Next to him a woman enters and exits the frame, pausing to curl a different scarf around her neck each cycle. Arguments over the value of this kind of art give way into arguments about their own relationship, but the art is not as passive as it appears at first glance. ‘Modern Art’ by Joe Laredo is another really clever piece of writing, quirky and well structured, with a particularly strong ending.
In Tracey Jane Smith’s ‘Meet the Pets’, a young man is bringing his less than keen girlfriend round to his house to meet his beloved pets: Mr. Cuddles, a bow-tie wearing cat and the ever excited Daisy the dog. We are treated to their internal monologues, including their thoughts on the new visitor. This is a funny, effective, visually comedic and well-delivered device by Waller as the cat and Bounti as the dog. However, I didn’t feel like it connected sufficiently with the narrative between the humans, and the two storylines felt somewhat at odds with each other. Because of this the ending feels quite random and unsatisfactory. This is a really clever device that needs to be reworked into a more cohesive narrative.
“You have beautiful skin you know.” This is the first line of ‘But That’s Okay’ by Jenny Mead, a play that charts the trajectory of a relationship in fast forward from getting to know each other to marriage, children, affairs, couples counselling, grandchildren, and on. This is a clever and beautifully truthful portrayal of a relationship, its ups and downs, its excitements and its normality. However the highlight has to be the silent waiter turned to lover turned to marriage counsellor, serving food, dropping condoms, sweeping through the scene as figments of their life together. This worked really well and the comedy in Waller’s delivery of the role offset the tragedy and fragility of many events punctuating their relationship. However I wanted more from the two main actors, a greater commitment to these changing stages of a relationship and a changing and nuanced characterisation to reflect that.
Last but certainly not least, ‘Work’ by Jerusha Green is one of the strongest pieces on stage tonight. In an art gallery, two strangers monologue, isolated, until they crossover with each other. Michael Waller, who is consistently strong, brings a fantastic energy to the stage here and Athena Bounti really shines. Ethereal and troubled, her performance is delicately moving and deeply human. If anything, the piece could benefit from being longer as the second half feels a little rushed and loses clarity in this haste.
These six new works are selected from over six hundred entries submitted to the Reboot Theatre Company. The whole evening is beautifully directed by Franciska Ery. The staging is fantastic throughout, never overdone and perpetually conscious of the space. This is particularly noticeable in the robotic like movements used in ‘Something from Nothing’ and the staging choices in ‘Work’, two isolated people overlapping in the same space. Though the pieces are wildly different there is a real sense of cohesiveness to the evening.
As a whole, the pieces lack pace, and the gaps mean they are able to meander and lag in a way that does not do the writing justice. As a result, many pieces fall short of their potential. However this is a really interesting showcase of clever, moving and witty writing, delivered by some really strong performances and supported by fantastic direction.
