Tron Theatre, Glasgow
4 stars
If one's memory plays rose-tinted tricks, as D.C. Jackson's extended
'non-rom-com' suggests, then this speedy revival of a work first seen
during the 2010 Edinburgh Festival Fringe appears now to be this most
wilfully adolescent writer's coming of age play. Tom, the hero of
Jackson's yarn, is a feckless and somewhat gormless rake who finds
himself thrown together in the Friday night sack with Amy, a just-met
colleague from his new office job. Like the responsible adult he isn't,
Tom, still carrying a torch for his first schoolboy crush, tries to
make-believe nothing ever happened. But in a world where drunken sex is
“smashin'!”, there are two sides to every story, and the play's
stylistic back-flip so we see things from Amy's point of view shows she
has history too.
All of this may have been textually intact last year, but Jemima
Levick's new production for Borderline seems infinitely less madcap and
much more equal in its depiction of thirty-something singletons on the
verge of finally growing up. The result, as Jackson's initial barrage
of baroque one-liners, internal monologues and inappropriate touching
moves onto second base, is a far subtler evocation of the dating and
mating game than Jackson's original template.
As Garry Collins' Tom and Jessica Tomchak's Amy share their thoughts
with the audience, aided by Katrina Bryan's hippy chick Sasha, My
Romantic History most resembles the sort of soft-centred sex comedy the
swinging sixties were flooded with. As Tom and Amy come to terms with
the consequences of getting in what used to be known as the family way,
such an old-fashioned moral tale is a refreshingly rare experience.
The Herald, September 15th 2011
ends
4 stars
If one's memory plays rose-tinted tricks, as D.C. Jackson's extended
'non-rom-com' suggests, then this speedy revival of a work first seen
during the 2010 Edinburgh Festival Fringe appears now to be this most
wilfully adolescent writer's coming of age play. Tom, the hero of
Jackson's yarn, is a feckless and somewhat gormless rake who finds
himself thrown together in the Friday night sack with Amy, a just-met
colleague from his new office job. Like the responsible adult he isn't,
Tom, still carrying a torch for his first schoolboy crush, tries to
make-believe nothing ever happened. But in a world where drunken sex is
“smashin'!”, there are two sides to every story, and the play's
stylistic back-flip so we see things from Amy's point of view shows she
has history too.
All of this may have been textually intact last year, but Jemima
Levick's new production for Borderline seems infinitely less madcap and
much more equal in its depiction of thirty-something singletons on the
verge of finally growing up. The result, as Jackson's initial barrage
of baroque one-liners, internal monologues and inappropriate touching
moves onto second base, is a far subtler evocation of the dating and
mating game than Jackson's original template.
As Garry Collins' Tom and Jessica Tomchak's Amy share their thoughts
with the audience, aided by Katrina Bryan's hippy chick Sasha, My
Romantic History most resembles the sort of soft-centred sex comedy the
swinging sixties were flooded with. As Tom and Amy come to terms with
the consequences of getting in what used to be known as the family way,
such an old-fashioned moral tale is a refreshingly rare experience.
The Herald, September 15th 2011
ends
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