Chloe Ward is wonderfully charming and likeable actress, with a strong presence that drew me in from the beginning. In her one-woman show, she grabs you with her first laugh in the pre-filmed prologue, setting the tone and announcing that she is not here to take herself too seriously. Ward is the writer and performer of the show, demonstrating a good base in a wide number of enviable skills, increasingly necessary for any actor these days.
'Gap Year' is Ward's re-telling of her own gap year experience - during which she pointedly did not travel to a far-flung country to work with orphans or save some turtles; rather, it was filled with incidents based around an intriguing variety of part-time jobs, a few dates, a run-in with a sun bed and pursuing her driver's licence. She weaves a recognisable story, taking every chance to compare the supposed norm of a gap year abroad with her own experiences through projected images and music.
Ward gives herself plenty of chances to shine, and this is particularly evident with her pitch-perfect theme song near the end of the show. With the chorus running 'it was meant to be', the song is a great parody and shows Ward's obvious musical and lyrical skills off to great effect.
Ward competently jumps between playing a very wide range of characters, but there was room for a greater amount of pace and clarity within the switching of voices and physicality. Similarly, the pace of the show was damaged by slightly-overlong scene changes, bringing the energy down.
Some of the stories are funny and fascinating within themselves, expertly told with good pace and energy. However, due to the commonplace nature of the stories being told - being the point of the show, and not necessarily a bad thing - there are moments which could do with almost overextending the theatricality in order to fully grab our attention. The addition of the final mini-scene at the end wasn't at all necessary, and I wonder if these sorts of things could be tightened up by an objective director who could help bring the fizz of the script and performance to the fore.
But don't misunderstand me - 'Gap Year' is a funny and engaging show and Ward truly takes the stage and doesn't hesitate to use it to her full advantage. It's a short and sweet piece of theatre which you won't regret seeing.
