Break My Windows – Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh

Writer: Dave Gerow

Director: Ken Alexander

Sam is just looking for a decent way to get by. Something where he can do his time and maybe work his way up the ladder for something a little bit better. And when graduate boyfriend Brandon, currently working as a recruitment manager at his father’s start-up business in Leith, wants to put Sam forward for a new assistant role, well, surely this is the start of something brilliant?

The problem being, Sam is currently a driver for the company. A driver who just smashed into a pricey brief: His boss’s BMW. His boss, who is also his boyfriend’s father. Oh, and Sam’s uninsured… Can it get any worse?

But what is this grand start-up idea? Well, seeking to home in on a central meeting point for the delivery empires Uber, Amazon and Deliveroo – owner Eric has a bright thought for Bring Me Wheels. There’s promise, especially with the meeting of a large-scale investor from Fort William coming up, but the mother of all bad days occurs for this trio of unfortunate men, as Eric’s son Brandon thinks this is the right day to introduce him to his new boyfriend Sam, the cash strapped Bring Me Wheels driver who cannot make the right impression.

What seems to be a clean and straightforward comedy of errors from writer Dave Gerow possesses a host of whip-smart and unforeseen twists and changes. These neck-tilting twists will push some audiences away from the production, their political bite and quick pacing a touch too bombastic for some but allows Tom McGovern to fully utilise his renowned comedic panache as the insensitive, misery, and money-focused capitalist and owner of the ironically named BMW company.

But additional to the comedy, there’s an authentic sense of hurt as Ross Baxter and Jamie McKillop’s on-stage relationship builds to a crescendo of sorts, their previous humour and chemistry fracturing as they realise that the talons of capitalism may have already sunk too deep. And not only within Brandon’s father. Baxter’s naïve nature is a bridge for audience sympathy, caught between impressing his unsympathetic father and the need for approval from both Eric and his boyfriend. It comes with genuine sobriety asBreak My Windowsconcludes that irrespective of emotions or physical connection, when things boil down to it – the alignment of morals and values being out of synch may be the tipping point for this once prosperous couple.

Concise,Break My Windowscertainly feels among the more fleeting of the Play, Pie & Pint performances, but the tenacity with which Ken Alexander manages to grasp the restrictive pacing is remarkable, maintaining the speed of both movement and argument in this fast-paced piece, without stressing to overrun or stretch the more surreal elements. Compact, Gerow’s comedy takes a firm look at the politics of money and morals, perhaps taking too visceral a bite to make a perfectly coherent narrative but excels in its energetic depictions of avarice and relationship breakdowns.

Runs at the Traverse until 1 October 2022 | Image: Contributed