Debs returns home from a harrowing tour of duty in Afghanistan to find her dad running internet porn sites and her sexy schoolmate Jo shacked up with him. Home then, is as barren a landscape as the rugged terrain she's just escaped. As the action switches between the two, Joanna Harton as
Debs struggles to find her personal bearings, her status somehow compromised by her lesbianism.
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| Privates on parade? |
Morgan Lloyd Malcolm's script heightens the disconnect by placing a man at the heart of each scenario. In the desert, Sarko, Debs' self-styled protector, challenges her sexuality; at home her father suggests she join the new family business. Jo, meanwhile, has had her bottom featured online. Already uncomfortable with her sexual narrative, Debs teeters at the edge defiled and defensive, yearning to "let my skin breathe."
There is a scene at the beginning of this seventy minute play where Sarko observes the irony of being in a place which is effectively dead. There is sand as far as the eye can see and any sign of life, be it vegetation or people, is not a bonus but a danger to them. For Debs, that danger lurks even amongst those she trusts most.
In conclusion: A little jewel. The focus is diffuse, but the speed and brevity of the performance renders small flaws incidental. The beautifully played complexity of the heroine provides plenty of food for thought under Maria Aberg's direction.
References
Morgan Lloyd Malcolm, biog
Dominic Cavendish in the Daily Telegraph
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