Composed of current and recent University Of Greenwich drama undergraduates, collaborative theatre company Fruity Theatre aims to devise shows that “celebrate queer voices and highlight queer experiences”. It is a worthy aspiration. Alas the team’s first production, Nail Polish, a meditation on friendship and the challenge of young love, feels very much like work-in-process. Though enthusiastically executed, Daisy Parker and Aaron Govey’s ensemble coming-of-age take on the trials and tribulation of a group of young LGBTQ+ adults never quite manages to overcome cipher-like characters and clunky, therapy-speak dialogue.
It is New Year’s Eve. Loved up London couple Becky (Gray Enever) and Sophie (Beau Brett) arrange a pre-clubbing bash for best friends Sam (Aisa Nerva-Culley) and boyfriend Joe (Jack Birkinshaw). Joining them are Becky’s sexually ambivalent brother Mitchell (Aaron Govey) and quirky life-of-the-party Austin (the show’s best turn from an appealing Ryley Pennycard).
On route to the party Sam and Joe suffer a violent homophobic assault. The all-too-believable incident prompts soul-searching amongst the group as a whole and drives one of the couple to question his commitment to what may already be a crumbling relationship. The storyline, much of which unfolds in maddening brief flashback scenes, aims to explore the joys, adversities, and heartaches involved in finding friendship and love.
There is a determinedly young adult fiction vibe to Nail Polish, with its go-to themes of managing relationships with peers and coming to terms with diverse sexual and gender identities. Anticipate passing references to the Twilight novels and High School Musical series of movies. What is woefully absent from the young adult palette here is any truly authentic voice. None of these people or relationships feel remotely real and little is at stake for them beyond hurt feelings and bruised egos. This space is way too safe.
Parker and Govey’s exposition-heavy dialogue sometimes feels like it has been lifted directly from a top-tips manual on how to have a valid, consensual, and affirming gen Z relationship. Joe bemoans Sam’s inability to offer him a sufficient amount of “grounding”. Sam laments Joe’s determination to “invalidate my masculinity” by questioning his choice to wear nail polish. Austin muses on why “everyone is caught up on gender” while simultaneously celebrating their non-binary identity. Mitchell wonders why “the labels don’t sit right with me”. All these musings are valid in their own way but are not a sufficient basis for believable or rounded dramatic personalities. Unfortunately, credible drama rarely emerges from spaces this safe.
Writer: Daisy Parker and Aaron Govey
Director: Grace Enever, Kaylin Michael, and Tilly Penn
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