Writer: Anna Ticehurst
Director: Lilly Butcher
20-something Bea was doing okay until her girlfriend, Talia, dumped her, and she smashed her phone against the wall in a fit of rage. Now she is definitely not doing okay. She is grieving, her flat is a complete mess, and the neighbour upstairs keeps banging on the ceiling. She has not showered or been out in days, and the relaxation tapes and rock songs she sings along to are not helping. Worse, the lights keep flickering ominously, usually a theatrical cypher for some kind of supernatural influence at work.
Into Bea’s (Anna Ticehurst, who also writes) chaotic, complicated life walks her oldest, dearest friend Frank (Gregor Roach), whom she has known since childhood and who, until recently, lived with her. He wants her to snap out of her funk, have a bath and get back to work. “Talia-shmalia,” he says dismissively of Bea’s former squeeze, packing up the ex’s belongings in a cardboard box and attempting to tidy up the mess, physically and metaphorically.
As old friends do, the duo soon slips into a comfortably familiar pattern of wisecracks, more or less bitchy reminiscences, and sotto voce mutual recriminations, aided by some impressive daytime drinking. It soon transpires that Frank’s life is no easier. Bea has read his diary (“there’s some really good stuff in there”, she says, much to the man’s annoyance) and has some searching questions she wants him to answer. But will he stick around long enough for her to get the responses she wants and the resolution she needs?
Anna Ticehurst’s engaging 50-minute drama IMITATIONS, directed with a tremendous eye for detail by Lilly Butcher, covers familiar themes: survivor guilt, unfinished conversations, and unresolved pain. Ticehurst captures the complicated love-hate chemistry between straight Frank and queer Bea (really more brother and sister than anything else), and the dialogue sparkles with acerbic wit and cleverly crafted comic diversions. The slow-burning revelations are paced just right, though one can, it has to be said, see the late twist in the tale coming from a mile away.
Ticehurst’s excellent Bea fizzes with angst and barely constrained anger, but underneath there is love and bewilderment at her best friend’s choices in life. Roach’s caustic Frank is top-notch, too, though this is really Bea’s story to tell. It is not often one leaves fringe-style shows by debut writers wanting to know more about the characters on stage and feeling so much for their plight. IMITATIONS is a small, unexpected gem.
Runs until 3 October 2026
