![](https://www.sardinesmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Tilly-Mum-and-Tania-jpg.webp)
Show: One Year Itch
Society: Awkward Branch Productions
Venue: Barons Court Theatre
Credits: Awkward Branch Productions
Type: Sardines
Author: Ned Hopkins
Performance Date: 09/01/2024
One Year Itch
Ned Hopkins | 10 Jan 2024 14:52pm
Photo: Voichi Judele
Hot on the heels of Isley Lynn’s award-winning lesbian play The Swell last summer at the Orange Tree Theatre, comes another fascinating piece about lesbian love, this time written and directed by Andrew Phipps, featuring an all-female / non-binary cast and dealing with the problems of dating.
I say ‘featuring’, because what is so refreshing about recent LGBT+ writing in such as plays as these, is that they no longer need to be as self-consciously aware, as in the past, of the political and social issues we have for being attracted to people once referred to as the ‘opposite’ sex – and continually justifying ourselves for being who we are. Or perhaps not? Discuss.
Here the drama is very much focussed on Tania’s personal problems. She has recently split with her partner, Gillian (Kelly Craige) and her bessie, the heterosexual Jayne (bubbly Iona McTaggart, who provides a good foil to her angst-ridden friend) is helping her to find a suitable replacement. For the first half of the play we watch Tania suffer, to no avail, a series of toe-curling dates. All this time she holds out for a vacant and better post within the Events Management firm where she works. Only after a futile eight month period, does she remember telling Jayne: ‘I don’t mind if I don’t have sex for an entire year – as long as I get the promotion,’ and decides to stop hunting for a partner to concentrate on improving her career prospects.
She perseveres with her resolution even when she meets the film star Vitoria De Luca (Ozzy Algar) on whom she has a heavy crush, and her feelings are returned. Good girl, it could only have ever been a one-night fling! An unsatisfactory visit from Gillian, who is having second thoughts about dumping her, also confirms she is doing the right thing giving herself space to get her life back on track.
As Tania, Anca Vaida provides the poised, witty and wise lynchpin of the play. She is also responsible for choreographing the other cast members who, when not playing their specific roles, provide an ensemble of stagehands to slickly adjust props and furniture to music and keep the action flowing. Good use is made of the small stage. No bumping into the furniture here!
The issues raised by Phipps about how we make bargains with ourselves and the excuses we find, when things don’t work out, to rush and try to resolve our problems only to create more of the same, are thoughtfully explored. It is not intended to diminish in any way the message of the play to say that, as an elderly gay man, I was, from my own past experience, able to empathise with Tania’s plight! In fact, although the author may be unhappy with me saying this, I couldn’t help thinking that, well as it works as it stands, it might be an interesting theatrical experiment another time to try casting the play with all-male/non-binary actors. Would much, if any, dialogue tweaking be required?
Above all, the play is a celebration of friendship, even when we’re not always told what we want to hear or given bad advice. There is much warmth in the writing. If I have any reservations, I would have liked more light and shade, a little more depth and, occasionally, a less relentless pace. More backstory about Tania’s failed relationship with Gillian and some of the other characters would have helped us engage more with her predicament, too.
Nevertheless, the test of good dramatic writing is to leave the auditorium asking meaningful questions about what you have just seen. A well-balanced team of engaged performers and creatives ensure that One Year Itch provides plenty of food for thought. My partner and I were still talking about the production as our train pulled out of Victoria!