Thirsty – VAULT Festival, London

Writer: Stephanie Martin

Director: Scott Le Crass

Best friends Sara, Jen and Alice are all at pivotal points in their lives, trying to find ways to muddle through their problems and get back on track. Sara’s breakup with her ex, Cassie, is the focal point of the trio, struggling to move on after her first bisexual experience, one that opened her eyes to BDSM and her queer identity. Alice and Jen are also trying to navigate womanhood in an ever-changing landscape, whether it’s worries around buying a house and settling into motherhood, or the urge to find the one and settle down after a string of dodgy dates. It’s time for all three of them to figure out who they are, and what they want.

Stephanie Martin’s script is honest, relatable, and realistic. Rather than romanticising relationships with clichés and generic character tropes, it is instead a fresh exploration on various instances of moving forward and trying to rediscover yourself after a big change. The well-written friendship group would be great unravelled in more detail – at points, for a one-hour show there’s almost too many side stories and possible plot pathways, the potential abundance of narrative arcs that could come out of this script suiting a TV show pilot rather than a self-contained show. These trails occasionally make the mostly punchy performance lose momentum, trying to do too much at once.

The relatability is the real draw of the show – with the variety of viewpoints, it’s easy to align individual experiences with those of the characters, so either a tighter focus or a lengthier narrative would help the pace flow better and get each character their well deserved moment under the spotlight.

Louise Beresford’s Sara is a brilliant amalgamation of Sharon Horgan and Phoebe Waller Bridge’s Fleabag. The straightforward mannerisms and breaks of the fourth wall envelop the audience further into the story, comically narrating each stage of the breakup alongside excellent direction from Scott Le Crass. Sex scenes are cleverly envisioned as a clapping game – a simple, yet humorously effective metaphor, while graphic monologues are intricately singled out for full effect.

Anna Spearpoint hilariously depicts each of her characters, with spot-on comedic timing, especially within her main role as Alice who brings humour to every scene she’s in. Greer Dale Foulkes and Rosanna Suppa deftly depict their various roles, easily defining the differing characters without the use of props or costume changes.

If you’re Thirsty for a fresh forage into the varying degrees of femininity and the paths it can take you down, then this is the show for you.

Runs until 5 February 2023