Review: EXCELLENCE IN ALL AREAS, Bar Soho - Brave Potatoes Theatre Company
Laura Hall’s Excellence in All Areas, from new queer-led theatre company Brave Potatoes, presents a snapshot in the day of the life of two teenage girls in the final year of their elite all-girls secondary school, where fierce academic competition is compounded with the pressure to boast the biggest boobs and the flattest stomachs to ensnare one of the ‘fitties’ from the nearby boys’ school.
Hall’s writing is unapologetically and joyfully filthy, capturing the wildness and feral sensuality of girls emerging onto the brink of young adulthood. Far from a jolly hockey sticks, Malory Towers rendering of the school experience, Hall paints an anxiety-inducing picture of academia fuelled by Red Bull, ProPlus and crippling insomnia.
Performers Georgie Rodgers and Becky Banner give no-holds-barred performances as Yazmin and Mollie, the central characters and narrators in this piece, throwing themselves at this tensely visceral piece with orgasmic energy. Crucially, there is a keen vulnerability behind these two girls which is revealed beautifully and poignantly through Lottie Tolhurst and Laura Hall’s canny direction.
This show is bursting with promise. There are some interesting elements to play around with – such as the use of voiceovers to make up a wider ensemble of characters – and perhaps some script tweaking that could really elevate this production. The tension and the reveal of the drunken betrayal that forms the first act’s cliffhanger could be drawn out a bit more, with perhaps more exposition in place to raise the stakes but overall this is a striking and sparky new voice that demands to be heard.
The first snippet of this show will also be appearing at The Glitch this week as part of A Pinch of Vault, and hopefully in a fuller, finished form in the near future. We look forward to seeing more of Laura Hall and Brave Potatoes’ work around London fringe theatres very soon.
*** Three stars
Reviewed by: Livvy Perrett