As Deidre and Veronica awake on their wedding day, the action of this show takes place in a bedroom with conversation ranging from Deirdre's love of Julie Andrews to Veronica's insecurity about being a boring old fart. A twist halfway through offers a window into the lives of a lesbian couple, who have little in common apart from liking Dusty Springfield and an anxious desire to be accepted by each other's families. As the play progresses, the white clothes that litter the floor in the pre-show are gradually cleared away as the events become darker. However, whilst this is an admirable attempt to display these issues on stage, the script and structure severely weaken its message and compromise its objectives.
Writer Teresa Hennessy must be commended for finding an original angle to explore these age-old problems. However, I wish the script would get on with exploring them. Not much actually happens, which isn't a problem if you get to the heart of the intended issue in the early stages but for such a short play there is a huge amount of chaff which could have been discarded. The attempt to build our relationship with the characters is limited. We find ourselves waiting for things to come to a head and not caring for the wellbeing of the couple, which is crucial for the climax of the play.This brings me to the twist, which is where the play really lets itself down: it simply was not clear what had happened. After the show I spoke to three others, none of whom gained the same impression of events. This is inexcusable if the twist provides the reason why the characters feel the need to discuss their predicament. As it is, what could have extracted gasps from the audience, only elicits a mild grunt - and that's if you get it in the first place.
Hennessy gives a confident and highly respectable performance as Deirdre, delivering the mild humour with poise. The jokes were not forced and the whole thing lacked the pretension that could have turned the show into a pathetic teenage attempt to be clever. Even so, this doesn't make up for the work's flaws, as it does not provide enough drama for us to appreciate. The Drama Queens let themselves down: all the time I was begging for something to actually happen and when it did it was too late for me to care.
