• Advertise
  • Request Review
  • Write for Us
  • Privacy
  • Login

Theatre Bubble

The UK Theatre Network

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
  • Reviews
  • News
  • Features
  • Spotlight
  • Opinions
  • Interviews
  • Guides
  • Ed Fringe

Lobster at Theatre503

January 11, 2018 by Alex Wood Leave a Comment

Review of: Lobster at Theatre503
Price:
From £10

Reviewed by: Alex Wood
Rating:
3
On January 11, 2018
Last modified:January 11, 2018

Summary:

Lucy Foster's new play follows a relationship - starting at the close

More Details

It’s a London housewarming party. J is introduced to K. ‘You’re perfect for each other’, a mutual friend says. They’re suddenly face to face. They stare.  It looks like they’re about to click, and something is about to blossom – except, this isn’t a principal encounter, or a “Dance At The Gym”-style love-at-first-sight moment.  Lobster isn’t a play about a relationship beginning, but instead, quite the opposite.

Looking back over a long-term relationship is a strange experience, rose-tinted lenses distorting events, emotions, with two accounts emerging from the two different parties. In Lucy Foster’s script, J and K’s memories of their time together are disputed like lines on a battlefield, old words used as weapons while tired arguments turn into fresh wounds. It’s a caustic trip down memory lane between two very different people – J the idealist, the religious family woman, while K the pragmatist, determined to understand herself before she attempts to impose that on anyone else. They’re cut from different cloths, opposites – but don’t they always say opposites attract?

Photographer: Ali Wright

The ideas at work in Foster’s two-hander are recognisable, sometimes painfully relatable, and the piece grounds itself in a form of relationships many in the audience will comprehend. We’ve all been to the awkward salsa classes or stormed off in a supermarket. For the most part, it ticks over nicely and organically, save some strange expositional moments that blindside us as audience members – throwaway mentions about rounds of IVF and financial uncertainty that don’t seem to fit. One almost wishes that Foster gives us every piece of information early on, letting all the pieces hustle and bustle over the next 90 minutes.

Director Kayla Feldman guides her two performers across the production with enough rhythm and motion to hop between past, present and future, as Foster blends hopes for the future with counterfactual discussions of ‘what could have been’. Jamie Simmons’ expletive-proclaiming balloons also make for a wonderful touch. Louise Bereford and Alexandra Reynolds bounce off each other with the perfect amount of familiarity as the star-crossed couple, familiar and intimate, as accustomed to squabbling as to spooning. An underwater and quietly nautical sequence was charmingly low-key, perfectly capturing the suppressed excitement of mutually a discovering a new romance.

But sometimes Ying doesn’t always end up with Yang. Chalk and cheese don’t always work. People aren’t like hardware – you can’t just work out how to make them compatible. Foster has deftly crafted a painfully real exploration of a modern same-sex relationship, a subject matter tackled all too rarely on British stages at the moment.

 

 

 

Alex Wood

Author: Alex Wood

Alex is the former reviews editor at Theatre Bubble, but since changing position now contributes occasionally. He has been writing reviews for a number of years, as well as seeing his own shows performed. He has produced and marketed a number of performances at venues in London, Oxford, Edinburgh, including the world premiere of Philip Pullman's The Ruby in the Smoke.

Filed Under: Featured, Review

Join the discussion Cancel reply

Hands Face & Empty Space / Emily Beecher on being a reluctant producer and unproducer

On the 17th March, it will be exactly one year since UK theatre came to an overnight standstill. Every day [Read More]

Hands Face & Empty Space / Alison Ford on maternity, redundancy and doing what’s right

On the 17th March, it will be exactly one year since UK theatre came to an overnight standstill. Every day [Read More]

Hands Face & Empty Space / Peter Moreton talks about growing the grass roots

On the 17th March, it will be exactly one year since UK theatre came to an overnight standstill. Every day [Read More]

NEWS / Concert opportunity for musical theatre performers

A series of three concerts featuring musical theatre and drama graduates will be streamed from London’s Cadogan Hall in March. [Read More]

News / By The Waters Of Liverpool Announces UK Tour Dates

 THE HELEN FORRESTER PLAY BASED ON THE BEST-SELLING BOOK WILL RUN FROM SEPTEMBER 2021 VISITING SEVENTEEN VENUES ACROSS THE UK  [Read More]

Top Posts & Pages

  • Alison Ford on maternity, redundancy and doing what's right
  • Emily Beecher on being a reluctant producer and unproducer
  • 10 Tips to Help You Prepare for Your Reality TV Auditions
  • Peter Moreton talks about growing the grass roots
  • Actor's Corner: Keeping Curious with Jamie Baughan
  • Yasmin Paige on Actually
  • The Life at Southwark Playhouse
  • 5 Stage Elements to Consider for a Rousing Theatrical Production
  • Writing the Perfect Press Release
  • How to Applying for Arts Grants and Funding
  • Alex Wood

    Alex Wood
    Contributor

  • January 11th, 2018
  • comment iconNo Comments
  • Facebook1TweetLinkedInEmail

    Newsletter

    Enjoyed what you've read? Get even more great content directly to your inbox - Completely Free

    About Theatre Bubble

    Theatre Bubble is the news, review and blogging site created by Blue Pie Media and run by a dedicated team of outstanding editors and writers: we're always looking for new contributors - to find out more click here.

    Contact Us

    News: news@theatrebubble.com
    Reviews: reviews@theatrebubble.com
    Website: webmaster@theatrebubble.com

    Privacy Policy

    Copyright © 2021 · Blue Pie Media

    Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

    Email sent!