Marmite ☆☆☆
The Vault Festival
Eddie (nicely played with a nervy but earnest demeanour by Ned Costello) and Dylan (Theo Walker -all blond self-assurance and poise) bump into each other in a Bristol bar. They hit it off but the catch is they are both on dates with other men. The call of the wild takes over and they abandon their dates for a quick shag back at Eddie’s place.
The next time they meet after this tryst, Dylan blurts out “I’ve missed you” and in a way that is a tribute to the plot, (by playwrights Hallam Breen & Phoebe Simmonds) it doesn’t feel unlikely or a stretch of the imagination, when Eddie asks “Are we a thing” and an offer for Dylan to move in follows shortly after.
Rosie is Eddie’s big sister and probably his BFF (best friend forever) too. Rosie (played with more depth than just the comic relief by Rosanna Hitchen) catches the boys mid blow job. The awkwardness is terrifically well directed (also by Breen & Simmonds) and well played, setting up the dramatic space nicely for Rosie to ask them if they have an open relationship. It is the difference in their response which triggers the dynamic for the rest of the play.
We realise Eddie is less able to talk calmly about his emotions whereas Dylan is far more adventurous and sexually confident. Dylan asks Eddie “Isn’t monogamy a bit old fashioned?” Time passes and they seem to be enjoying their new found sexual freedom. Then one day there is a moment where Dylan and the third man are so carried away with each other they accidentally shut the bedroom door in Eddies face.
Eddie says at that moment “Something shifted” and Dylan accuses Eddie of being insecure “I live with you – isn’t that enough?”
They are both flawed characters and this can sometimes have the effect of the audience not really caring about their difficulties and at times it does seem like we are just following the ups and downs of a couples short lived but intense relationship. Whist the plot is perfectly feasible, the dialogue is on occasion more Hollyoaks than Harold Pinter, especially when Rosie dispenses some homespun wisdom such as “He just wasn’t right for you”.
Limerence the Production company that has brought us Marmite says it is founded upon a central interest in human relationships, investigating who we are, by looking at how we relate to others. It does indeed do this, and it’s a very pleasant hour spent, yet there seems little real insight; no devastating emotional revelation that leaves you and your world perspective changed as you leave the theatre.
https://vaultfestival.com/whats-on/marmite/ until February 17th 2018
REVIEW: JONNY WARD 