Tag Archives: Julia Grogan

“Playfight” at the Soho Theatre

It’s not unusual for a coming-of-age play to make some audience members feel old. Julia Grogan’s story of three friends, focusing on them at the ages of 15, then 18, shocks and surprises. Its characters might feel almost alien. At least, I felt ancient, and the play is all the better for that.

There is a lot here that is extreme. There’s a suicide at the start – of a young man who has sex with one of the 15-year-olds without knowing her age – and self-harm features prominently. Sexual violence is more than the backdrop to these young lives – it shapes them, and it is scary.

The frank discussions of sex, the prevalence of pornography and the girls’ different desires might also be termed extreme. These teens are “dreaming of bliss” and want nothing less. Searching for belief, with either Christianity or a vaguely pagan connection with the tree they all meet under, baffles a bit, too (and, with the latter, leads to a literally fantastic, dreamlike scene).

Grogan deals with her material so cleverly we cannot write it off as exaggeration. First, there is humour. Playflight is a raucously funny script, that will make you “crease” (as the kids say). A lot of the laughs come from the girls’ vivid imaginations – some of what they say, occasionally out of ignorance, is crazy. But even when their world-weary pretence slips and we see them as naïve children, what they are going through feels real. And they are tired sick of how they are treated.

Director Emma Callander treads the fine line within this serious comedy with a skill that matches the script. The performances from Nina Cassells, Sophie Cox and Lucy Mangan are superb (just consider how we see them grow up – a short final scene is when they are 24). They are fantastic roles. Presented as sex-obsessed, studious and saintly – an odd trio you might find difficult to see as friends – Grogan refuses to make them stereotypes. Keira, who seems not to care, is full of concern as well as sharp, challenging, arguments, Zeinab’s romantic desires for Lucy are more complex than a teenage crush, while Lucy is far more than the little girl lost she might seem (or pretend) to be.

Along with plenty of laughs, there is a foreboding tension that makes the piece distinctive. And its arguments about how women are treated are as powerful as they are forthright. Confounding, without being contrary, is a tough move to pull off. It’s this that makes the play so exciting (and makes you keen to see what comes next from Grogan). I bet Playfight proves memorable and I’m old enough to spot that.

Until 26 April 2025

www.sohotheatre.com

Photo by Paul Blakemore

“Gunter” at the Royal Court Theatre

Dirty Hare Productions presents a new and different kind of historical story. As with, say, Underdog: The Other Other Brontë, currently showing at the National Theatre, Emilia by Morgan Lloyd Malcolm, or even the musical Six, the aim is to focus on the neglected stories of women. It might be hard to see these shows as a genre – they are all so different – but they do share an honesty about the difficulty of such a project that is exciting and appealing.

Co-created by Lydia Higman, Julia Grogan and Rachel Lemon, the titular subject is a young girl from the Oxfordshire countryside who was “bewitched” and whose case was brought to trial in 1605. But the facts are scant and, predictably, focus on her father. So, what to do? Of course, theatre is great for bringing such stories to life. And the telling here is innovative and experimental… because it has to be.

"Gunter' at the Royal Court Theatre credit Alex Brenner
Lydia Higman

Higman is an historian and appears as such, acting as a kind of narrator who amiably guides the audience. Then she takes to the guitar! As a composer, her music is a big part of the show, with a variety of genres cleverly utilised. Grogan also performs, joined by Hannah Jarrett-Scott and Norah Lopez Holden, who all have fantastic singing voices and tackle an impressive variety of roles.

"Gunter' at the Royal Court Theatre credit Alex Brenner
Hannah Jarrett-Scott as James I

Lopez Holden takes the part of Anne Gunter, showing a youngster who’s confused as well as frightened. Jarrett-Scott plays ‘the other’ Gunter – the father – with a suitably bluff aggression. It’s clear he takes advantage of his daughter, but how much he believes her to be a genuine victim must be an open question. Jarrett-Scott also has a star turn as a paranoid James I (a fantastic interpretation of the monarch). Alongside other characters, Grogan appears as one of the accused, Elizabeth Gregory, whose story is powerful. The acting is strong, but the show is all about its approach: a little crazy, always energetic and inspiringly experimental.

You never quite know what’s coming next. Or how anyone will speak: the script moves from early modern details to contemporary speech, with a lot of swearing. Or how anyone will move. Aline David’s choreography is punk-inspired one moment and then suitably otherworldly. As well as singing, there are plenty of props, many very simple, such as balloons, on an increasingly messy stage. And some strong puppetry is aided by Amy Daniels’ excellent lighting design.

At times the wild changes in mood or incongruities are disconcerting. That’s the point, of course. And some touches might annoy or even confuse (the variety of accents puzzled me). But there is a twist to the story that makes this fragmentary approach especially appropriate… we don’t know what happened to Anne. Although frustrating, it proves the show’s point: she is lost to history. A final poetic touch acts as a powerful tribute to Gunter that feels fully appropriate. 

Until 25 April 2024

www.royalcourt.com

Photos by Alex Brenner

“Playfight” from the Finborough Theatre

Julia Grogan’s provocative new drama is the exciting winner of the ETPEP Prize and has been given an online rehearsed reading that downright demands a full production soon. A startlingly bold coming-of-age story with very serious concerns (and extremely frank content), Playfight comes close to a jeremiad and must be any parents’ nightmare.

The play’s three school friends talk bluntly about sex, death, love and religion. There’s humour of a kind here, although deadpan responses are relied on too much. First loves and a deep desire to work out what is “normal” prove touching. And it’s never in doubt that the characters of Kiera, Zainab and Lucy are “full of promise”. That potential is a fact that makes the play extremly depressing.

As well as orgasms and excitement about the future, it is the issues Grogan highlights that dominate. And these are truly shocking. Alongside teenage troubles with faith and sexuality (we expect that, right?) relationships to sex are seriously skewed. The acceptance of hard-core pornography and violence is disturbing. “Shame, blame and guilt” don’t just belong to Lucy’s church. Self-harming, homophobia and alcoholic parents seem almost tacked on as a grim backdrop to everyday life – it is physical violence that destroys all three young lives.

The performers – Robyn Cara, Hannah Millward and Helen Monks – work wonders with their character’s emotional ups and downs. There’s no lack of drama, so the generally underplayed tone and tight control shown in Blanche McIntyre’s direction are essential. Extra credit, of course, comes from the fact that the performers are working in isolation. Even though the piece has plenty of scenes that are phone calls, it’s impossible not to imagine how much more effective it would be – let’s hope will be – on a stage.

Playfight isn’t perfect. A central motif of an oak tree is over-burdened metaphorically and an attempt at basing some metaphysical speculation around its age fails to convince (although I’d love to see what a set designer could add). The much-discussed small-town setting is too vague, so what impact this might have had on the characters gets lost. The powerful energy in the play escalates with such rapidity that conclusion lacks control. But maybe that was the intention? Grogan’s work left me uncomfortably breathless and a play this urgent, aiming to spark so much debate, deserves a wide audience.

Until 8 April 2021

www.finboroughtheatre.co.uk