★★★☆☆

Review by John Gibson. Venue 53 theSpace @ Surgeons Hall

This is a one-woman show performed enthusiastically and professionally by Lauren-Nicole Mayes. I don’t usually attend shows that start this early (12:00 p.m.) so it’s fortunate that Mayes’ story appears autobiographical and involves lots of movement.

As the audience arrive we are presented with Mayes atop a platform dressed in shorts and t-shirt, ready for Loz’s school’s egg and spoon race. Mayes portrays Loz as a young girl in Blackpool, on the cusp of discovering the world of boys. She talks about her self-image and dances to Steps whilst living next door to an aging beauty who enjoys sharing her social life with her. Her dad always has a headache – which is hinted as a code for depression – but her infectious positivity carries her through these potentially problematic moments.

She ends up in a nightclub to meet (what the script suggests) is one in a long line of Mr Wrongs, and this allows Mayes to indulge in some more dancing and do a tentative exploration of toxic masculinity. The material is intellectually undemanding but Mayes acquits herself and easily portrays the conversations between the characters from her earlier life.

The show is book-ended with the egg and spoon race in which Loz attempts to best her nemesis ‘Sweaty Becky’. I was uncertain as to how this moment at school related to the club date and the more mature incidents. And whilst there is a subtle sense of dread in the Blackpool air, as a drunk Loz stumbles sadly through the streets, the script points to a rather obvious and abrupt end which is then abandoned in favour of a jarring address to the audience at the close, whereby Mayes explains her feelings as an adult to her younger self. Coming after the aforementioned interesting and darker developments, this choice to abandon the structure seems an odd one as she ‘tells’ us her feelings instead of showing them.

A competent debut overall, but it would have benefited from more transparent plotting and the excision of the direct address to the audience at the climax.