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Bear with me: Sun Bear @ParkTheatre

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If The Light House is an uplifting tale of survival, Sarah Richardson’s Sun Bear gives a contrasting take on this. Sarah plays Katy. We’re introduced to Katy as she runs through a list of pet office peeves with her endlessly perky coworkers, particularly about coworkers stealing her pens. It’s a hilarious opening monologue that would have you wishing you had her as a coworker to help relieve you from the boredom of petty office politics.  But something is not quite right in the perfect petty office, where people work together well. And that is her. And despite her protesting that she is fine, the pet peeves and the outbursts are becoming more frequent. As the piece progresses, maybe the problem lies in a past relationship, where Katy had to be home by a particular hour, not stay out late with office colleagues and not be drunk enough not to answer his calls. Perhaps the perky office colleagues are trying to help, and perhaps Katy is trying to reach out for help. It has simple staging

Chats and swipes: Love Me Now @TristanBates

Casual encounters are in the spotlight in Love Me Now. It’s a new play by Michelle Barnette playing at Tristan Bates Theatre. Not so much about love gone wrong but about the young and the loveless. There are no names in this piece as three characters move in and out of each others lives with sex and idle chatter. 

Set over a series of hookups, the main focuse of the piece is on a  woman (Helena Wilson) and her regular date (Alistair Toovey). Much of the piece is set in and around the bed. Before and after sex. She wants something more from the regular encounters. He’s more blow and go. And her attempts to get equal treatment only lead to disaster.  

Later she finds another man (Gianbruno Spena) who says the right things but it turns out to be the same man in a different package.

Along the way the hedonism and partial nudity are at times hilarious. Wilson is engaging as the frank and seemingly carefree woman with one-liners about blowjobs. Toovey is convincing as a fit young man who’s alternatively loveable and to be feared. Spena is enjoyable as the smooth and patronising alternative lover. 

Told in fragments, the piece comes together towards the end where experiences taint what could be. The conversations build as an attack on the woman at the centre of the story. A mistake becomes the work of an evil bitch. Wanting something more becomes being needy.  But this also darkens the piece and reduces the male characters to mere villains in a battle of the sexes. 

Still there’s enough in the provocative writing and strong  performances to hold your interest throughout the piece. Although it’s probably not a show to take someone on a first date. Especially if you met them on Tinder. 

Directed by Jamie Armitage, Love Me Now is at the Tristan Bates Theatre until 14 April. 

⭐️⭐️⭐️


Photos by Helen Murray

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