Reviewed by Kate O'Sullivan
Crash Theatre Company pride themselves on telling imaginative stories through a female lens, and their new show is no exception. Telling a story of four women about to graduate from their various university degrees, the show pulls us along as they explore the events across their friendship that both brought them together and tore them apart.
The four performers clearly have a lot of love for their characters, with layered and diverse performances by the entire cast. While it did take a couple of scenes for some characters to feel settled, for the most part, the portrayals feel genuine and realistic, like you were looking in on conversations someone might actually have with their friends - fights and all. These relationships, and the little off-hand conversations throughout the show, are the real strength of this show, reminding the audience of the little things in their own friendships, especially those that have lasted since high school.
Some heavy topics have been well explored in the show, especially around mental health and eating disorders, however, some moments felt a little underused. An example of this is Bree's monologue about the job interview, which felt less personal than the other solo scenes, which was unfortunate given the strength of the character in other parts of the show. Similarly, we somewhat lose the character of Holly later in the show, as her plot line is dropped while others are pushed to the fore. This has nothing to do with the performances of any of the actors, but rather the speed at which we have to steam through some of the moments and conversations in the show due to the show's length. It would be great to see the script reworked, potentially slightly elongated, and re-presented after this season, as the show has a lot of potential.
From a technical standpoint, the show works well but does feel somewhat limited by the venue itself. The set absolutely brought us to the locations we moved through in the show, but due to the scale of some of the pieces, they did make some of the scene changes quite substantial and thus lengthy - something that is noticeable in a show that is only an hour long. The music and soundscaping were effective in transporting us to the different locations, and good use of directional and muffled sound to give the feeling of being in the room with the characters. The lighting rig was well used, creating a nice distinction between the time-skip sections and the moments of reality and flashback, but there was a significant amount of spill during set changes which did detract somewhat - but may be more of an issue with the rig available than the intent of the lighting design.
I hope that this show sees large houses, as it is a really good example of the potential of new works. The audience certainly enjoyed it on the night I saw it, recognising themselves and their own friends in the characters and their struggles. I would recommend it for a really fun night out with friends, especially those who have been in your life for a while.
Reviewer Note: Tickets for this review were provided by the theatre company.
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