Writer & Director: Jonny Brace
Following a successful run earlier this year at VAULT Festival, That’s Ace transfers to Kings Head Theatre as part of Tom Ratcliffe’s guest artistic director season: A Queer Interrogation. The production feels rather intimate for the theatre space, but an affecting performance by Tiffany Marina Pearmund.
That’s Ace follows its titular character, a young Doctor Who fanatic who is rebranding as her queer, authentic self beyond a negative relationship with her religious mother. Ace intermittently updates the audience on her life up to the present moment while waiting in a club she has been invited to by Sasha, her best friend and/or crush.
As is expected, intersecting queer identities sit at the heart of the narrative. While Ace’s sexual ambivalence at first feels like an abrupt realisation during a good old fashioned smoking-area heart-to-heart; it becomes clear that this additional queer element of herself has been simmering beneath the surface for some time. Jonny Brace’s writing offers a succinct but carefully constructed exploration of asexuality which is a potent as it can be within the brief running time. It feels a slight shame to cut off the conversation so soon, when the topic is so underrepresented in media; however it is not this theatre company’s responsibility to bear this weight and what they do present is sweet, honest and appreciated.
As Ace, Pearmund is brilliantly cast, with a slightly awkward presence, quirky sense of humour, and soft-spoken demeanour which matches the character’s uncertain sense of self perfectly. Her tendency to deliver certain dialogue with a blunt nature heightens the comedy n the script and also allows confessional moments to feel all the more tender.
That’s Ace is a quaint storytelling experience addressing an important topic. With thoughtful writing and a sensitive performance, a slight dial up on production value is all this little show needs to be a big hit.
Runs until 6 May 2023.
The Reviews Hub Score
Thoughtful and Sensitive
