Fringe festivals are often a wonderful springboard for work of an alternate theme, process or even delivery. Here I think we are very much dealing with a theatre piece that is a work in progress.

The theme of the piece is simple: what happens when your best friend gets in the way of everything? The potential power of the ensuing discussion is great, however somewhat unexplored. 

The show opens on Allie (Emma Koretz), just awake and severely hung over. Her childhood friend Beep (Alex Norris), Allie’s best buddy, is there to take the blame for all the shots and all the bars visited the previous evening. But where is Allie’s boyfriend Ryan? Nowhere to be seen and we learn very quickly that Ryan is not well liked by Beep. The problem is that Beep is also a boy, and Beep is very vindictive.

Ryan (Jono Carter) is a tolerant soul who clearly likes Allie a lot, so he allows her leeway she doesn’t quite deserve, given behaviour that others might observe as unreasonable. In the end the best friend is dealt with, giving Allie the freedom to pursue her relationship with Ryan, in turn giving the show its happy ending.

Though the theme is solid I feel that writer/director Benny Marama would have benefited from some dramaturgy and most definitely a strong second eye in the direction. I fear he may have been too close to the work to give it the perspective and the breathing space to fulfil its potential as a powerful piece of theatre. 

The players are not as competent as the script demands; that easy flow of dialogue between best friends was lost in staggered hesitance. My companion suggests that this is first night nerves however I think it is more a case of not knowing the script well enough, perhaps not enough rehearsal time. The standout is Jono Carter who plays the part of beleaguered boyfriend Ryan with a relative ease and grace that essentially ties the work together.

I think the script has a lot of merit and with work Benny Marama has a potential hit on his hands. At forty minutes in length there is certainly extra time in the budget (I see an excellent hour here) to draw out the essence of the theme: toxic relationships built from the need to cope in challenging situations.

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