“We’re not kids anymore, are we” says stern and nerdy 16-year-old Will (Jamie Patterson) to his best female friend Bean (Charis Murray) as they settle in for a Duke Of Edinburgh award camp-out somewhere in the countryside around Oxford. The duo are playing truth-or-dare and waiting for Bean’s boyfriend and Will’s closest mate Dean to show up. But Dean is late. When the reason for his absence becomes apparent, we soon learn these two may not be kids, but they are not really adults either.
Tamsin Rees’ 65-minute two-hander Cheer Up Slug is at its best in capturing the profound, all-encompassing emotional intensity of teenage friendships, and the sense of devastation teens feel when their buddies turn out to be less reliable than they first appear. Where it is less effective is in exploring issues of consent, particularly the argument that boys are brought up with a sense of male entitlement, one that empowers them to script every interaction with girls to their own advantage. Consent is certainly an important topic, but as anyone who has ever been around teenagers (or watched a Hollywood horror movie) knows, 16-year-olds sometimes make really dumb decisions. Even for the post me-too generation, a brief miss-judged attempt at a kiss with a best friend is normally not the end of the world. The key problem here is that Rees makes her characters just too damn innocent, likeable, and geeky to make this story, and the journeys the characters are on, believable. Another problem is that the audience which would really benefit from hearing the message about consent, youngsters themselves, are unlikely to ever get to see this play. Adults generally know this stuff already.
Cheer Up Slug is not helped by a tepid first half that lacks momentum and focus. Waiting for the villainous Dean to show up feels a bit like waiting for Godot, without the comedy or pathos. The action perks up in the second half when revelations emerge, but by then it just does not feel like there is much at stake for two biscuit-munching adolescents goofing around with a bottle of rosé.
Murray, bedecked in childish dungarees and ponytails, gives a solid and likeable performance as Bean, whose outward quirky exuberance hides inner turmoil. But somehow the character feels less mature and younger than her age suggests. Most 16-year-old girls are more interested in Instagram than carrying around a jar of slugs (the molluscs being a metaphor here for teenage innocence) in a backpack festooned with kids cartoon stickers. Patterson captures Will’s chaotic combination of adolescent naivety and overweening self-confidence with tremendous charm, but ultimately the character he portrays is too one-dimensional to be convincing.
7 November 2022
Writer: Tamsin Rees
Director: Hannah McLeod
Duration: 65 mins no interval.
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