(reviewed at Alnwick Playhouse)

It’s New Year's Eve, in the ladies toilet. Sal (Katy Weir) and her sister Beth (Helen Macfarlane) use the facilities and fix their makeup. From Sal's comment about her 'lost face' she really doesn’t want to be there. Joined by friends Lisa (Catherine Devereux), Dilly (Helen Oak) and G (Stephanie Butler) they imprison Matt (Sean Wildey), G’s ex, in a cubicle. They won't let him out until he pays the money he owes. He's locked in and at their mercy with tights tied between the cubicle doors. It all seems a bit of a laugh and the comedy flows. Beth – she's the one with everything in her handbag – unscrews another cubicle door which is placed on top so Matt – The Shagaround - can't climb out.

G's not a woman to be messed with, but the rant between her and her ex opens out into an alcohol-fuelled discussion about men and women, sex and love. Matt's position is now known throughout the club and dozens more tights arrive to make him more secure. He has been abandoned by his so-called mates. What the women are doing to him might be the ugly face of feminism but Matt gives as good as he gets.

'Romance is for script writers' the women declare before the conversation briefly becomes too philosophical and didactic. Sal develops as the most interesting character. She's the outsider who's not shaved her legs and cries at the loss of yet another cheating boyfriend. Her final words - 'In this dream I can make him say anything' - evoke a romantic ideal they all want but don't know how to get.

Katy Weir's Sal is outstanding. She appears uninteresting and unglamorous, dragged out by her sister. Unglamorous she remains, but she has more humanity than the others and suffers for it. Stephanie Butler's G is strongly portrayed with freakish madness hovering one step away from her histrionic rants. Sean Wildey's Matt, hidden behind the toilet door, conveys all the devious, disingenuous behaviour of a man failing to understand women or his own dishonest take on life. The Shagaround is a powerful portrayal of relationships – a modern fable of misunderstanding, alcohol and anger.

Cast Credits (alpha order): Stephanie Butler – G. Catherine Devereux – Lisa. Helen Macfarlane – Beth. Helen Oak – Dilly. Katy Weir – Sal. Sean Wildey – Matt.

Company Credits: Writer - Maggie Nevill. Director - Scott Young. Designer - Elizabeth Teasdale. Stage and Company Manager – Julie Mainwaring. Technical Operator - Julie Mainwaring. Company - Odd Man Out. www.myspace.com/theshagaround.

END

(c) Peter Andrews 2007

reviewed Monday 30 July 07 / Alnwick Playhouse

Fringe Report (c) Fringe Report 2002-2008