Hard-hitting drama burns bright
The full review is below as it is not yet available online.
Appearances can be deceptive. This blackly humorous monologue written by Dave Florez, a talented graduate of the Royal Court’s Young Writers’ Programme, begins as a stream of consciousness of a young man called Kevin (Phil Nichol), who is sitting in a London cafe and imagining lurid sexual acts with the pretty Lithuanian waitress. Alas, Kevin is too shy to ask out Daina.
‘I retreat to the toilets like a French soldier,’ he tells us shame-faced, having already shared salacious images that take root in his mind every time she flashes a friendly smile or brushes past his table.
Kevin is brash and self-loathing, a volatile combination that could seriously alienate us as an audience. Then without warning, Nichol sends a wrecking ball through the fourth wall. ‘What a load of crap,’ he sneers, pouring scorn on the lyrical words he has just been spouting.
Fantasy and reality dance hand in hand for the rest of the show as Nichol, playing a heightened version of himself, draws attention to his meagre stage props (‘This is an extended metaphor for life and the extent of my budget’) and becomes increasingly vociferous and abusive about Jews, women and the pink pound. ‘What have the gays given us?’ he sneers. ‘Theatre and Aids. No, I’m joking. They also gave us cabaret.’
He then reveals the sobering truth about his character, a Scottish lad called Kevin MacDonald, delivered in the form of ‘the compulsory PowerPoint presentation’. Nichols is utterly fearless and director Hannah Eidinow guides us through the shifts in tone, peeling back the layers of Florez’s script that muddies fact and fiction beyond recognition.
Damon Smith
