DramaFringe TheatreReviews

Review: Tuesday, The Hope Theatre

Write Club Festival 2025

Summary

Rating

Good

A thriller which constantly shifts and challenges perceptions of whether a character is speaking the truth, either to the audience or themselves.

A lot of people will recognise the awkward situation that Verity (Grace Molony) experiences of being trapped in a conversation you really don’t want to be in and trying to puzzle out how to extract yourself without causing offence. Especially when you start to realise that person is not as friendly and stable as you first thought. Tuesday explores what happens when this situation is taken to the extreme and ‘being trapped’ is not so metaphorical.

Verity is happily lounging in her flat when her old school friend Ellen (Marina Bye) unexpectedly arrives, soaked with rain, to convey the news of the very recent death of another old classmate. Taking pity, Verity invites Ellen in to dry off and calm down with some tea, and they have a friendly reminisce about old times and how their lives have turned out. Until the talk turns not so friendly, with a probing Ellen clearly envious of Verity’s more successful career, lifestyle and relationships. Over the course of an hour of ever-increasing tension, Ellen brings up events which Verity had long forgotten. Things are not quite as they seem, with both characters presenting outer appearances which may not reflect their inner personas. We sense that a reckoning is coming – but who is truly trapped?

Bellaray Bertrand-Webb’s script is very intricately layered, full of subtle half-truths and lines which take on a deeper meaning in hindsight, exploring how appearances can be deceptive. A seemingly innocuous line by Verity passes unnoticed until Ellen calls her out on an inconsistency ten minutes later. As director, Bertrand-Webb and movement director Temi Idowu keep the action and dialogue engrossing, subtly switching from friendly to outright tense, movements betraying intentions that spoken words do not. The two leads evoke sympathy and mistrust, expertly performing both the overt outer body language and the subtle inner thoughts, especially when their reactions go unseen by the other.  Molony’s movement and speech reflects Verity’s confidence and discomfort, and you can see the exact moment on her face when she realises she made a big mistake opening her door. Bye effectively embodies the double role, her change in posture and demeanour showcasing Ellen’s emboldened switch from grateful guest to unwanted troublemaker.

The theme of obfuscation is very well supported by subtle visual aids which trigger a subconscious sense that things are not quite right, even if it takes a while for your brain to catch up and realise what is amiss. This is exemplified by the costume choices by Meli Daniel; Verity’s talk of exciting holidays with her friends codes her as an extrovert, but this is at odds with her bland, entirely beige outfit (even down to her socks). Ellen’s attention-grabbing green trousers and multi-coloured jumper seem counter to her meek persona; it is natural that she should want to swap her wet clothes for Verity’s dry spares, until you suddenly realise this is for reasons other than mere comfort. The set work by Xavier Mackinnon packs Verity’s flat full of detail; clothes (all beige) piled up on the floor, Deliveroo bags and other rubbish scattered around the table and chairs. Such a messy environment doesn’t seem to fit the prosperous professional lifestyle of its inhabitant. At key points internal rage is creatively externalised by Nell Golledge’s lighting, signifying that the pretence has been dropped.

It is not long before the story moves in unexpected directions. The efforts of cast and creatives combine to convey a sense of untruth behind the shifting behaviours, making the play engrossing as we track throughout whether someone is honest and attempt to uncover their motivations. 


Written and directed by: Bellaray Bertrand-Webb
Lighting design by: Nell Golledge
Movement direction by: Temi Idowu
Costume design by: Meli Daniel
Set by: Xavier Mackinnon

Tuesday has completed its current run at The Hope Theatre as part of Write Club Festival

Michael Taylor

Michael is a lifelong Londoner who enjoys using his free time to explore all the fantastic and madcap sights that London has to offer. This often involves the arts and is occasionally something he stumbles across by complete accident. Having experienced many enjoyable adventures in theatre, he continues to be entertained and educated by the wide variety of shows on offer.

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