The set is a cross between a teenager’s bedroom and a rock gig, and actors sling on electric guitars to channel the punkish energy of a riot grrrl band as they half sing, half speak this coming-of-age story of trauma and healing.
“We are going to tell you a story about a woman,” says the headbanging frontwoman (Dani Heron), who flags up the sex, swearing and rock’n’roll to come. So we follow the central character in this exuberant piece of gig theatre as she goes from schoolgirl sex, parties and music-making to teen pregnancy, miscarriage, rape and depression.
Written by Joel Samuels and Lilly Pollard, the story never steers away from intimate descriptions of female sexual experience, both in its joy and trauma, but the script carries comedy, warmth and bright-eyed innocence alongside it.
The rest of the band – Rachel Barnes, Eve De Leon Allen, Anya Pearson and Sarah Workman – are each as charismatic as the next and seem intent on raising spirits despite the subject matter. They bring wry millennial twists to 1990s feminist punk nostalgia, even though its “fuck the patriarchy” message now sounds hackneyed and glib.
Under the direction of Celine Lowenthal, they perform multiple characters, still standing at their mics, so that they never depart from the gig format.
The songs, composed by Pollard, have a heavy rock sound. When the protagonist meets her first boyfriend, the lovably geeky Dean (long greasy hair, Nirvana T-shirt), their first kiss happens to the sound of Pulp Fiction’s theme tune and university parties are accompanied by psychedelic guitar.
Performers radiate charm and the script balances well between earnestness and observational comedy: the university fresher satire is especially fizzy with housemates introduced as types such as “Political Lad” and “Posh Boy”. Later, when Heron’s character becomes part of a thruple, there is pin-sharp comedy of millennial mores.
But while the songs are full of energy, they do not all catch fire. Some are forgettable with lyrics that are swallowed up by the sound, and they slow down the pace of the story. Still, it is such a fun and infectious act that even when the songs are so-so the drama keeps on rocking.
