Writer: Jessica Regan
The charm of 16 Postcodes is Jessica Regan’s ability to tell a story. Trained at a London drama school, she has a deft way with accents, presenting beguiling vignettes of various encounters she’s had, mainly with flaky boyfriends, in her years in the city. 16 postcards hang from some ivy at the back of the stage, on each of which is written a familiar London area. Members of the audience are asked to select one, and based on this, Regan launches into a short monologue.
Her fascination with postcodes comes from having grown up in rural Ireland where postcodes simply didn’t exist. Only Dublin, she explains, is divided up into postal areas. As a teenager, it’s her love of the band East 17 that starts her off. But in fact, it’s more the evocative names that appeal – Clapham Junction, Primrose Hill, Goldhawk Road, Mile End – and her stories come from her semi-nomadic life in London, accepting short-term accommodation from friends as she tries to get acting work. She’s actually been successful as a TV actor but doesn’t bring this up in tonight’s show. But, of course, each evening will bring different stories depending on the postcards selected.
Regan does a very funny sketch based on an attempt to live a cool London life, buying magic mushrooms at Camden Lock. At first, nothing seems to happen. Then, she becomes a version of herself that is giggling, disorientated, exuberant. The ex-boyfriend, over from Ireland, with whom she goes on this adventure, doesn’t stick around. But they never seem to do so in her anecdotes. Her repeated chant is ‘relationships are so hard’. She tries a Tinder date with a man eager to accept her proposal of a ‘fixed term, no fault’ fling. The real joke here comes from what happens after she sees him again, ages later, at Clapham Junction.
There is some nice observational work – she pinpoints a particular era in London when everyone was drinking lattes, but sourdough has yet to make an appearance. But overall, the show, while having a certain charm, is slight.
Runs until 31 October 2024
