Pets come in many forms. Cats and dogs are the obvious choice for many people, perhaps because of the ease with which an emotional attachment can be made and the affectionate responses they give. For most people, goldfish, while beautiful to look at, lack human traits that can be found in four-legged friends and rarely generate the same level commitment or devotion. The exception is to be found in the intense relationship that exists between Gemma and Josie and their aquatic acquisitions Sunny and Boo.
an unpretentious and humorous look at the meaning and implications of friendship along with owning a pair of goldfish
The affair is ongoing, even though Sunny and Boo are now dead. Goggles relatesthe unlikely romantic tragedy of learning and love generated by the simple act of friends buying a pair of goldfish as a symbol of their affection and feelings for each other. Co-written by Gemma Barnett and Josie Dale-Jones and performed by Josie Dale-Jones and Melissa Rolle, this outwardly bizarre story and far-fetched scenario is energetically and movingly performed with wit, pace and charm.
Goggles follows their friendship from its early days at school into sharing a flat together. There are the inevitable ups and downs and feelings of being trapped and wanting to break free. They don goggles, imaginatively jump into the tank to see their relationship mirrored in the confines of the bowl and life under water. Sunny and Boo could not be closer and the girls wonder if they too could ever have the romanticised existence they imagine for their co-habitees and what life would be like without each other.
In this this delightfully dizzy drama the girls complement each other perfectly. They both bubble with intensity but do so in a classic comedic double-act: the exuberant versus the poker-faced, with looks conveying as much as words. The costumes are bright and fit for the water, while the lighting and sound effects enhance all the action. At times the technician is also brought into the exchanges, which, along with direct addresses to the audiences, gives a sense of all being in the bowl together.
Goggles is a light-hearted swim through a stream of emotional moments. It is thought-provoking rather than profound but is is also an unpretentious and humorous look at the meaning and implications of friendship along with owning a pair of goldfish: a real sit back, enjoy and be entertained piece of theatre which the girls pull-off with considerable skill.
