Another night of the longest, hottest summer of living memory. On the walk to Theatre Square last night I passed a camel train plodding through Old Town, saw two parched men fighting over a bottle of chilled Evian outside of McColls and noted that the Town Hall clock was melting like something out of the imaginations of Salvador Dali.
The reason I’d ventured out, once again, into the unforgiving heat was to see “Spur of the Moment” by Quirky Bird Theatre at the Shoebox. Turns out I wasn’t the only one; it was as close to a sell out as to make no difference.
Anya Reiss wrote “Spur of the Moment” when she was 17, after having attending holiday writing courses at the Royal Court since she was 14, and it received its premier at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in 2010.
Delilah is 12, nearly 13, and trying to contend with her parents’ constant warring over her father’s infidelity with his ex-boss and his resulting unemployment. To make ends meet the family have had to take in a lodger and Delilah’s parents are too busy bickering to notice the growing closeness between their young boarder and their pre-adolescent daughter.
It’s an accomplished and uncomfortable comedy with whip-crack dialogue, tightly-wrapped characters and a claustrophobic setting that reminded me of some of the more oppressive sit-coms of the 60’s and 70’s (in a good way).
Quirky Bird’s production plays out on an adaptable set that slickly transforms into various rooms (notably bedrooms) in the Evans’ home throughout the play. The back wall of the set is plastered with photographic portraits of the characters in happier and more innocent times.
Paul De Boer and Alex Stroud play Delilah’s parents Vicky and Nick, both always teetering on the verge of argument over anything as small as the offer of a cup of tea. They switch slickly from throwing brickbats at each other to moments of quiet desperation and hurt.
Matthew Mordak is the lodger, Daniel, young man who rapidly unravels throughout the course of the two acts as he tries to juggle a visit from his girlfriend, Leonie, with the presence of his landlords’ infatuated daughter. The unravelling of the character is played very well although (small point) the performance becomes a little ‘shouty’ in the last quarter of the play (although it’s not an unreasonable choice given the lines as written).
Josie Beer plays Delilah, the suburban Lolita at the heart of the play. The balance between ‘troubled child trapped in a broken home’ and ‘knowing young woman entrapping the lodger’ is pitched perfectly. She stretched the audience’s sympathies with ease.
The part of Leonie, Daniel’s girlfriend, is a little underwritten in truth, but Joanna Miller over-achieved with relatively thin material and Eleanor Shaw, Hannah Grieg and Kianna Grace acquitted themselves well as Delilah’s friends Naomi, Emma M and Emma G.
Quirky Bird have presented an expert, affecting and funny production of an often thorny and troubling comedy. I’m glad I dragged myself through the draining heat of the Swindonian Desert to see it.
