Writer: Michael Southan
Director: Nickie Miles-Wildin
After a mutual swiping right on a dating app, Lucy and David meet for some drinks, promising each other some fun. After her wheelchair hits a kerb, Lucy finds herself in hospital and faces the wrath of her mother, who immediately disapproves of her antics. Not to be deterred, Lucy and David meet again but things get 
even more bumpy… can the pair navigate their way through a successful romance?
Kerbs bills itself as getting real about romance, sex and disability, and it mostly hits the right spot. The set design and its use of multimedia, which also functions as accessible captions throughout, offer a promising start that unfortunately falls flat in the first few minutes. Perhaps first run nerves, however, the initial scenes between Lucy (Maya Coates) and David (Jack Hunter), and then Lucy and her mother, Carol (Rekha John-Cheriyan, who also plays family friend, Toni), feel awkward and forced, and sadly not in a ‘relationships are difficult’ portrayal kind of way. Hunter particularly struggles to capture our hearts, despite his cheeky-chappie bolshy-ness, his portrayal lacking charisma and making it a struggle to connect with him as a result; there is some confusion with John-Cheriyan’s first swap to Toni, with a plot inclusion that feels a little shoe-horned in to fit the narrative; and the audio captioned lines not matching that of the actors was somewhat distracting on this occasion. It’s not lost that the show’s early interactions were perhaps scripted to be a little awkward, but the portrayals that result unfortunately stray into that of somewhat poor performance. Thankfully, as the action hots up a little, the pace and rapport keep up, and the remaining hour ensures we leave satisfied.
Once warmed up, and with John-Cheriyan in full role as Toni, everything does seem to click into place and we find ourselves fully absorbed in the trials and tribulations of a young romance, obstacles (both literal and metaphorical) and all. Coates and Hunter relax into their roles and get to work on capturing ours, and each other’s, hearts. Coates offers a blunt yet charming Lucy, and Hunter provides the many laughs, his LaserQuest moments being particularly memorable. John-Cheriyan stays a little stiff as Carol but thrives in her main role as Toni once she gets a solid run at it. The scenes are well crafted to show the highs and the lows of both romance and disability, and the crossover between the two; with the balance of not holding back and not over making a point being mostly harmonious. Many laugh-out-loud moments then ensue, all taking place around the clever, multipurpose set.
Overall, Kerbs does what it promises. It tells a simple story of young love, disability and the difficulties faced when the two combine, and it does so in a funny, raunchy manner. Despite its early setbacks, it does charm, and with some tightening of those early scenes could be a force to be reckoned with. Well worth an evening out of your week, it’s certainly fair to say we’re all well invested by the end!
Runs Until 5 March 2022 and touring
