Writers and Directors: Nell Sternberg and Bethany Ağaoğlu
Hard-partying 20-somethings Lilith and Gabriella do not like, so far as men are concerned, to put all their eggs in one basket. They are on a journey to female self-empowerment, one which involves a great deal of clubbing, casual sex, and boyfriend / casual shag management. Augustine’s wayward prayer “Lord, make me pure – but not yet!” seems to be the duo’s shared sentiment.
But are the women’s increasingly edgy adventures really about satisfying them, or the men who take advantage? The pair is soon to find out it will take more than Lilith’s copy of Feminists Don’t Wear Pink to find a path to love and being loved.
Eggs and Baskets covers familiar coming-of-age territory with a heaping of anarchic charm and solid comic chemistry between leads Nell Sternberg and Bethany Ağaoğlu, who also write and direct. Think a pair of Bridget Jones prototypes, 10 years younger and an awful lot messier. Add into the mix dishy hedgehog-loving lawyer Aslan, otherwise known as “that geezer from Narnia” (Ben Cannon seems to be auditioning for Bridgerton), who Lilith picks up at a highly sexualised yoga class.
Lilith’s jealous ex, photographer Jonah (Josh Young), thinks he and his erstwhile squeeze have a karmic connection and determines to get Lilith to “drop the lion”. Brothers Ezra (Josh Sullivan) and the decidedly shifty Galad (Sam Grant in panto villain mode) serve as Gabriella’s love interests.
The storyline is as slim as a toothpick and can broadly summed in Lilith’s wise injunction that “any man who calls a girl a ‘bird’ has got ‘pump and dump’ written all over him”. Events come to a head after happenings at a gate-crashed Bar Mitzvah turn sour. Sternberg and Ağaoğlu add some watchable dance routines between scenes, adding spice to the piece’s already frantic momentum.
Reviewed on 16 August 2024
Camden Fringe runs until 25 August 2024
The Reviews Hub Score
Anarchic coming of age comedy.
