REVIEW: AGATHA by Florence Howard at Theatre503 until 15 July 2023

‘… the subject matter is emotionally intense, the play is also deeply funny’ ★★★★

Agatha was so nearly one of the best pieces of fringe theatre I’ve seen this year.

Aggie and Ben are very much in love. But there’s one issue that could prove to be the wedge that drives the couple apart. Ben wants a baby. Aggie doesn’t.

If the secret to a good story is conflict, then this premise is one hell of a place to start. In one corner, we have deeply held convictions about parenthood. In the other, a couple’s titanium-strength love for one another. We can’t take our eyes off the repeated clashes that fire us through this hotly-contested battle, and for the majority of the piece, we have no idea what the outcome will be.

Florence Howard (writer) performs Aggie as a kind of sharper-tongued Claire from Fleabag. I think we side with her, but we’re also frustrated when she gives in to Ben’s challenges. Contrastingly, Ben (Trieve Blackwood-Cambridge) is a heart-on-his-sleeve kind of guy. He’s over-the-top, charismatic, silly, a bit too intense at times, but crucially, deeply in love with his girlfriend. We believe the pair as characters, we completely get why they’re in love with each other, and we agonisingly empathise with the tiny unborn baby-sized issue at the heart of their relationship.

And as much as the subject matter is emotionally intense, the play is also deeply funny. One memorable bit of speech was when when Ben compares what he diagnoses as Aggie’s inherited trauma (not wanting kids because she had a shit mum), to his own distaste for olives, bequeathed to him by his mother. Howard strikes a really good balance between comedy and something more serious.

Following the plays climax we literally have no idea how this is going to resolve. We’re in the palm of Howard’s hand. It’s exhilarating. And then in walks Aggie’s mum. Something pops and we’re taken out of the action. It feels like a different play. Aggie’s mum has, up to this point, haunted the play as an enticingly spectral presence, who we really did not need to see.

The final act left me feeling frustrated, confused and yearning for a better resolution.

Images: Marshall Stay

Presented by GS Productions

AGATHA 

Written by Florence Howard

Directed by George Chilcott

Theatre 503 from 27th June - 15th July, 7:30pm

Tickets: https://theatre503.com/whats-on/agatha/

Cast:

AGATHA Florence Howard

BEN Trieve Blackwood-Cambridge

LENA Emily Mytton

Reviewed by Danny Shaw