The Dundee Fringe provides the perfect context for Maybe This Time, a story of love, frustration and delusion rooted in the city.
A story of love, frustration and delusion
A chance meeting in a local karaoke bar, where we hear perhaps too many many attempts at the art form, kicks off the boy-meets-girl scenario, strengthened by a further speed-dating encounter that leads to a relationship between them in which actors Benjamin Asensio and Rebecca Ross capture the joys and difficulties of making your feelings known. She is able to express her what's within her and is manifestly enamoured of the guy who probably feels the same about her but just cannot bring himself to utter the words, “I love you.” What’s wrong with him? Something is clearly lurking in his background and when he blurts it out in an argument it’s a relief all round, but the issues it has caused for him are never explored; a note for Asensio who also directed the piece.
They relate their predicaments to their respective best friends played by Emily Powell and Scott Duncan, receiving some consolation and tactical advice in return. For the lads, this is mediated largely through Duncan’s character's obsessive immersion in films such as Titanic, Die Hard and The Notebook through which he interprets life. Perhaps another missed opportunity here to deal more fully with mental health issues.
Overall, it’s a high-energy production that bodes well as a first outing for Cor’ Blimey Theatre. There’s a well-executed fight scene and the show is not short on comedy, even if not all lines land as well as others. It’s a classic Fringe piece; in need of some refinement but a sound example of the potential of the next generation of theatre-makers.
