A convincing portrait of the mess of being young, getting drunk and falling in love – but little more.
Emily Farley’s Cherston opens with six young graduates grinding on each other and blaring music. In the hour and a half that follows, there are house parties, squabbles over how to cook broccoli, gas leaks, drunken fights and hungover puking. Farley shows us the claustrophobia of living in a house share during Covid and the fallout of falling in and out of love with friends.
Central to the mess is Erin, played by writer Farley. Her secret crush on her neighbour Eeshan develops into friends with benefits and then unrequited love. Farley is magnetic as she shows the pain he’s quietly causing. Elsewhere the other housemates have breakups, manipulative relationships and long-distance relationships.
Cherston is well paced. Farley skilfully weaves us through randy and raucous group scenes and then more tender and emotional duologues; a calendar at the back of the stage neatly reminds us of where we are. She well emulates the type of light-hearted, funny and mundane chatter young people churn through but occasionally swings into being themey while skipping over the meatier consequences of living with strangers through Covid.
As the year progresses Erin sleeps with her housemate’s spineless girlfriend, Simone – who is well played by Sara Kaikkonen – and capitalises on Erin’s sadness. Things fall apart. Miranda, the moody housemate, admits in the final moments that she’s had a relationship for two months but the others – so self absorbed – didn’t even know. Erin confronts Eesham and realises that though she loves him, he simply doesn’t love her. It is sad and unnervingly relatable; the programme notes that Cherston is inspired by real-life events.
Farley gives a convincing performance but Cherston could push beyond simply recreating her experience. Farley handed out surveys at the end of the play, suggesting a rewrite may be on cards – and with it a chance to develop the characters beyond just mouthpieces for relationship dynamics, and fully explore some of the underlying tensions Farley hints at.
Cherston ran at The Hope Theatre 18th to 20th August.