REVIEW: Sweet Nothings

Described as Taylor Swift meets Monty Python, I went into this production thinking it would be right up my street and it really was a delightful evening of fun and laughter. The four plays were silly and humorous but with poignant moments, all of which captured the realities of being a woman in the modern world. The cosy Baron’s Court Theatre gave rise to minimal scenery, but each minimal setting was effectively used, and the use of props in some of the plays was excellent, I never realised a tampon could be so funny! 

Each play was delightfully unique. The first was the only one which had the whole cast, all of whom were exceptionally talented. The small witticisms really elevated the play with Nicola Rockhill having great fun as the dotty spiritual character and Colette O’Brien making the most of the comedic scripting of her Welsh character. The small nuances really show the depth of Payne’s writing and captured the uniqueness of elements of British life. The twists and turns of this play gave it depth and if anything, we were keen for more! 

The second play was my personal favourite. I felt it was the cleverest of the four plays, with brilliant direction that brought this genius concept to life. Having each of the “conscience” characters mimicking the actions of the real characters was a brilliant touch and commendation must be given to the incredulous facial expressions of Lily Rogers who excelled in this play. I truly felt she captured the essence of the emotional tug of war that a man like Bill can stimulate. Payne depicts well the obnoxious male stereotypes that sadly exist in reality, and Niall Burns executed these characters well across the plays. Whilst all of his characters fitted this vile, obnoxious stereotype, he managed to find moments of vulnerability in this play which made it almost too close to reality. 

Once again, the twists and turns of the script in the third play made for a compelling watch, showing Payne’s ability to keep the audience on their toes with her writing and engaging Direction from Ed Hulme and Olivia Gillman complemented this. Lily Rogers showed her versatility, playing yet another different character in this performance. Her comedic timing of lobbing tampons at Jack Crutch’s sensitive and idealistic character had us in stitches. With a challenging role in this play, Jack Crutch managed to portray intensity whilst remaining light and funny in the spirit of the Sweet Nothings performance, which made for the perfect balance.  

Finally, the fourth play saved the best for last. This unique storyline that already had comedic great promise from its conception was brought to life fantastically by Colette O’Brien and Lily Rogers. This duo captured the fun and frivolity of housemate life, playing off each other despite Lily Rogers being off stage for the majority of the play. Colette O’Brien interacting for much of the play with a door continued to make the audience smile and laugh as the girl that we have all met once in our lives and her interpretive dance at the climax of the play was inspired and brilliantly directed. The piéce de resistance was the music choice and ending of this play which had us in stitches once again and ended the whole performance on a brilliant note.