This show deserves as many points as its title says. Drawn in by the false promise of a show about the Eurovision Song Contest, Martin Blackburn's
Time that you will never get back
Set over the course of 11 years, Nul Points tells the story of a friend group against the backdrop of multiple Eurovision finals that are hosted by Josh (Kane Verrall), an avid Eurovision fan who uses the contest as a way to deal with his insecurities and mental health issues. Passage of time is indicated by the swapping out of the logo for that year’s contest over which plays the music from that year’s winner.
The show is slow-going and painful to watch, made more so by the shoe-horned Eurovision references and trivia whose explanations don’t make their inclusion any funnier. The constant fighting is exhausting to the point that it has us convinced that these people hate each other, and any moments of warmth feel disingenuous. The characters are irritating, quick to accuse each other and fight to the point that even the rare light banter they engage in isn’t enough to suggest that they actually like each other, never mind are friends. None of them are likeable and it’s difficult to force yourself to feel sympathy for any of them. They are the kind of people to be avoided at all costs, and their entitlement is nauseating, especially Josh and Daz’s (Marcus J Foreman) entitlement to roles in their friend Kat’s (Charlotte East) show, on the basis of again a sense of friendship that at no point materialises. And it gets progressively worse, a show that would benefit from the absence of a second act. It’s one of those shows that throws issues at the plot in the hope of making one of them stick - drug addiction, mental health, suicide, MeToo - without having a meaningful discussion about it and so apears to use these subjects as a way to give the actors to fill the time that they are onstage and the constant blame game among them about each of these subjects is simply concerning.
Amid all of this negativity, East really shines in her role, and in such a mediocre production, she proves herself to be so far above average that it makes no sense as to why she is in this show. East brings such professionalism and emotional complexity to the character of Kat, showing us the complexity of the character's emotional journey in everything she does, and becomes the one thing in this show worth watching.
This show has so many negatives, less in the execution and more in its delivery. The script is - to put it nicely - flawed which sets this show up to fail from the start. Nul Points is just time that you will never get back.
