Writer: Daisy Roe
Director: Miranda Kingsley
First seen at the Brighton Fringe, Daisy Roe’s show about a gender reveal party plays as part of the Camden Fringe now into its final week. Excellently acted and, in spite of its cutesy title, Blue Balloons Pink is a tense domestic thriller.
You’d think that any 2022 fringe show with a gender reveal party as its focus –and there’s a balloon on stage ready to burst with either blue or pink glitter – would interrogate gender roles and how gender is performed before a baby is even born. But Roe’s story is more traditional than that. It has more in common with A Doll’s House than it does with the many queer and non-binary shows that make up much of any Fringe’s programming.
That’s not to say that Blue Balloons Pink is old-fashioned. Indeed, it demonstrates the intense pressure that many, not just cis-women, are under to have children. Here Ash, a man in his 20s, is determined to have a baby. His parents and society at large persuade him that fatherhood is the only aim of any man. He is so excited about his partner’s pregnancy that he has turned into a ‘dadzilla’, fussing about the finer details of the gender reveal party they are to hold later on in the day. Ash is sure that his unborn baby will be a boy. He’s even come up with a shortlist of names. George is his favourite.
In comparison, Maggie isn’t happy about the imminent get-together of family and friends. She hasn’t bought enough food and is upset that Ash has asked his parents, as fastidious as he is it seems, to come early and help with the preparations. Clearly, her heart isn’t in it, but it’s a shock to see her diving for the bottle of gin that she has hidden in her bag as soon as Ash leaves the room.
Initially Ash, played by Ruaridh Aldington, seems perfect boyfriend material. He’s cheeky, sparkly-eyed and caring, but quickly –perhaps too quickly – it’s apparent that he’s a gaslighter. He’s laid out the dress that he wants Maggie to wear. He’s the one who books her medical and prenatal appointments. He repeatedly reprimands her for slouching. Aldington’s performance is simultaneously chilling and sweet, blurring the lines of what is acceptable in a relationship.
Roe plays Maggie caught between flight and fight. You expect to hear Ibsen’s slamming door at the end of each scene, but underneath her stubborn exterior Maggie is desperate, and that desperation ensures that she stays. In a cleverly timed flashback, their first meeting is replayed and it is funny and heart-warming. It explains, in some way, why they stay together. And it explains why Maggie reaches for the gin.
At 75-minutes, the play could be a little shorter, and surely the lights could go down at the end to tell the audience that the play has finished. It’s a powerful ending, but the awkward waiting to see if this is, indeed, the final scene rather undercuts its chill. But apart from these minor gripes, Roe’s play stylishly directed by Miranda Kingsley, is full of nuance and detail right down to the pink and blue clothes that Ash and Maggie wear. This could be the hit of this year’s Camden Fringe.
Runs until 27 August 2022
The Camden Fringe Runs from 1-28 August 2022
The Reviews Hub Score
Domestic Thriller
