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OSO Arts Centre is a wierd (however pretty) venue. Situated in leafy Barnes, compared to most fringe venues right here I don’t really feel like I could possibly be the oldest within the viewers! Which isn’t any unhealthy factor, however to develop it into an important fringe theatre, they do want to draw a youthful viewers alongside us outdated’uns. Programming exhibits like Thistle and Rose’s Beneath A Cups is a step in the best course. The plot is easy sufficient. Stacy (performed by author Kat Stidston) works alongside pal Mary (Giulia Hallworth) on a sexual well being helpline. Which is quite ironic…
Rating
Excellent
Thistle and Rose ship one other manufacturing which demonstrates they’ve lots to supply, with a message that’s by no means compelled upon us, and but has an influence that offers the present an actual edge.
OSO Arts Centre is a wierd (however pretty) venue. Situated in leafy Barnes, compared to most fringe venues right here I don’t really feel like I could possibly be the oldest within the viewers! Which isn’t any unhealthy factor, however to develop it into an important fringe theatre, they do want to draw a youthful viewers alongside us outdated’uns. Programming exhibits like Thistle and Rose’s Beneath A Cups is a step in the best course.
The plot is easy sufficient. Stacy (performed by author Kat Stidston) works alongside pal Mary (Giulia Hallworth) on a sexual well being helpline. Which is quite ironic given she’s a virgin, held again by physique dysmorphia. Following a quite awkward date/ not date, she by some means finds the braveness to provide her telephone quantity to the Italian waiter, who she is certain would be the one to… properly, you understand. Except issues don’t go precisely as hoped.
Beneath A Cups efficiently follows an analogous fashion to their earlier work, Post Sex Spagbol, however while you may spot the commonality between the performs, it nonetheless retains a freshness of its personal. Things roll alongside at an unimaginable tempo beneath Katie Bignell’s directing debut, with no second wasted. Scene modifications stream evenly, the 2 actors shifting furnishings and props round with a classy flourish. They additionally make nice use of the straightforward set: with the addition of telephones or cushions we’re immediately on the helpline, the restaurant for that awkward not-date, or the waiter’s flat together with his ginger cat looking at her.
Stidston provides a splendidly awkward efficiency as Stacy, her discomfort in her personal physique apparent. Alongside her, Hallworth makes an outstanding effort multi-roling the supporting solid, donning shirts or hats to simply differentiate every function. Her Italian waiter is an absolute scene-stealer, while as Mary she finds good stability between being supportive pal and hilariously over-confident, in stark distinction to Stacy. Her despair as she explains {that a} former boyfriend dumped her and never the opposite means round is delivered with actual shock that such a factor is even attainable.
But it’s maybe in Stidston’s writing that this present actually excels. Scenes pause midpoint to permit Stidston to interrupt the fourth wall (making no secret of Miranda Hart and Fleabag influences), addressing the viewers straight along with her interior ideas which differ between comical and simply downright smutty. Her asides as she provides hand aid to the waiter do put a quite totally different viewpoint on the second. More importantly, this fashion completely permits for the extra severe moments as she lastly addresses the elephant within the room; her embarrassment at her personal physique. She is completely convincing as she despairs that nobody will ever be interested in her, particularly when her bra reveals the secrets and techniques beneath, a reference again to the present’s title. This message is so fantastically slipped in amongst the fast-paced comedian moments that when it does come it turns into extra highly effective, lastly revealing what’s hidden behind the humour.
Beneath A Cups is contemporary and thrilling, delivering an important message with spectacular pressure. Come the top Stacy clearly has a option to go to beat her physique dysmorphia, but it surely feels as if large steps have been taken, leaving us on a really optimistic word. It’s a message that has real significance; the kind of present that deserves a younger viewers, for whom this story may maintain actual significance, in an period the place physique shaming is commonplace. And as for bringing the manufacturing to this pretty Barnes venue, properly, it’s an important piece of programming that can certainly assist entice an entire new clientele, possibly bringing that common age down by a decade or two!
Written by: Kat Stidston
Directed by: Katie Bignell
Technical by: Sarah Moffatt
Produced by: Thistle and Rose
Beneath A Cups has accomplished its present run. Follow Thistle and Rose on Twitter right here to maintain updated with future work.
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