One of Them Ones – Brixton House, London

Writer: Charlie Josephine

Director: Ellie While

In Charlie Josephine’s new play One of Them Ones, Frankie and Michael are a couple of West Country siblings. Painter and decorator Michael is finishing up his last job before his wedding, but tensions with Frankie are overshadowing the forthcoming nuptials.

Frankie, who is trans and non-binary, doesn’t want to attend in a bridesmaid’s dress. They would like their brother’s support, but Michael can’t stop thinking of them as his kid sister.

Josephine’s take on a young trans person coming out to family is sweet, touching and frequently hilarious. A large part of that is due to the charisma of both actors. As Laurie McNamara’s Michael laughs, argues, talks and fights with Em Thane’s Frankie, the sibling dynamics leap out with clarity that makes the characters really shine.

What really brings the characters to life, though, is Michael’s struggle to accept Frankie’s identity. A lot of his resistance is a distillation of some of the more public discussions from people who want to deny trans people’s existence at the moment: the idea that it’s just a phase, a fad, the result of peer pressure from other young people. Josephine avoids easy dismissal of these notions, instead making it clear that Michael’s journey to acceptance of Frankie as anything other than his sister is not going to be a smooth one.

Thane and McNamara work easily with Josephine’s script, which plays joyfully with tense and timescales: sometimes the characters talk about how this is a story from their past, and seconds later they seamlessly drop into their mutual struggles in the present tense. So too, the characters careen between petulant antagonism, gentle ribbing, resentment and mutual support at a breath, expressing the complexities of their sibling relationship with microscopic clarity.

In amongst this, Thane’s portrayal of what life for Frankie has been like – that dressing and behaving as a girl felt like a performance, and that being misgendered can manifest as physical pain – is eye-opening without ever feeling dogmatic. Similarly, McNamara makes Michael a well-rounded, intensely likeable figure, placing his frustrations with Frankie’s gender expression in a believable place.

The progression of Michael and Frankie’s relationship thus feels two-sided. The dawning realisation that while Frankie has been struggling with their identity, Michael has been having his own problems – that his protestations that Frankie is always making things about them do, in fact, have some validity – is nicely handled by all concerned.

Designer Verity Johnson’s set – a clever use of panelled walls that, like Frankie and Michael, contain their own secrets – is perfect for the play’s tour of small venues around the UK. Sadly this two-date run at Brixton House is the production’s last outing – but only for now, one hopes. One of Them Ones portrays its characters’ inner thoughts and progressions so well, and with such empathy, that we could all learn from it.

Continues until 14 May 2023