F*ck Love: a play, is about well, f*cking, love, and sometimes the two of them together. The play centres on three twenty-something women all sharing a girly flat in Auckland, where together the three women work their ways through the giddy effects and unpleasant side effects of love. 

First time Writer/Director Sarah Graham says the play “was created to celebrate a time in our lives when extreme friendships define us.” It’s the capturing of the deliciousness of this dramatic period of life where the play excels.

In a spirit of great fun, Claire (Anoushka Klaus), Trudy (Ema Barton) and Meg (Jacqui Nauman) eat copious amounts of snacks, run around in their pjs and underwear, knock back vodka shots and toast with champagne, all the while flat out discussing their relationship dilemmas over the period of a year.

When Claire, the more restrained of the trio, embarks on a risky affair that can only end in tears, friendships are tested. 

There’re plenty of laughs. I don’t think the audience in the front row knows what they’re in for when Trudy appears hung over and half naked only to throw herself at the toilet at the front of the stage in order to barf (wonderful retching from Ema Barton).

The trio are tight and the play bounces with energy. The songs are a nice touch.

Sarah Graham’s script is light and fun, while still hitting on the truths of love. While exposition-heavy at times, overall it creates a fun world where three women have genuine friendships and dilemmas that aren’t easy to solve. At first it seems three ‘types’ of women are portrayed, but as the play progresses the actresses bring different sides to their roles. Jacqui Nauman in particular, does a good job of bringing out another side of the melodramatic Meg.

F*ck Love captures the essence of being twenty-something, and like Meg, living in the Disney fantasy of love: the heady excitement. Plus they dance. To Shania.

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Written and directed by Sarah Graham, F*ck Love revolves around the lives of three twenty-something women in Auckland, each succumbing to and working their way through the effects of love. The play gets a passing grade on the Bechdel test, mainly because the love it explores is not only that between men and women, but the platonic love between female friends.

Confined to the open plan living of an apartment designed by Bruce Graham, there is a regular flow of entrances and exits, and periodic evocation of offstage characters, which prevents a stagnant setting and creates a full world in which the play can exist. John Lepper’s lighting design keeps things simple, playing with minimum and maximum effect for the monologues and musical moments. [More] 

Copyright © in the review belongs to the reviewer