Review: Spare Room, Drayton Arms Theatre 

With Camden Fringe upon us for another year, it’s pleasing to revisit one of last year’s more memorable shows. Memorable for both its bravery (or maybe lunacy) in putting together a fuller cast than you will see on most fringe stages, and for making a superb effort at addressing unchecked “lad culture” in such a realistic way. Given the ever-increasing spotlight on young male behaviour, it feels even more timely than even twelve months ago. 

So, rewrites embedded and bags packed ready for Edinburgh, Spare Room makes a quick stop in London’s Drayton Arms Theatre, presumably for last minute checks. And pleasingly many of the little quibbles that were present last year have been well and truly ironed out. 

A quick recap on the story. Jodie (writer Georgina Housby) moves into a house share with five lads. She didn’t mean to but had naturally assumed Mary was going to be another woman; he isn’t. There’s little surprise that five lads living together leads to lads being lads. There’s no sugar coating it, at times they are obnoxious, yet it all feels perfectly truthful, and in all honesty, probably conversations many of us had at that age, however wrong we now know they are. Their first conversation is basically each agreeing “they would” and it doesn’t need spelling out what they are referring to. It’s certainly a show where the regular laughter at the terrible things they say comes tinged with a little discomfort. We are perhaps made complicit in what happens by our laughter. 

It becomes a constant escalation of drinking, drugs, objectification of women and everything that the #metoo movement was meant to see an end to. Except as we know, there’s still a problem of toxic masculinity within our society. 

All the elements that made this such a hard hitting and uncomfortable watch and yet extremely funny last year are still there. The laddish banter, the peer pressure that leads to the continuous escalation, and the clear belief that if a guy sleeps around he is a true man but if a girl does it… 

The extra year has resulted in it all coming together so much stronger. A larger stage clearly helps wonders, allowing director Sam Dinnage better scope to move his cast around each other. Most importantly, whereas last year it was disorganised chaos, now it all feels much safer as scenes play out. But perhaps the biggest change is in the script. The story is still the same, but it seems more focused, allowing issues of both consent and complicity to hang in the air for us to ponder upon. What was already an uncomfortable watch come the final moments is now even more so. 

There really is something great about seeing a show develop. Spare Room is clear proof that with the right talent, along with the time and space needed, a show can start to fulfil the potential it demonstrated last year. It’s also another demonstration that Camden Fringe is producing the stars of the future.  

Spare Room now heads to EdFringe, where it will play in thrust, something which could intensify further the discomfort of it all. Yet discomforting as it can become, it remains a wonderful demonstration that hard topics can be talked about whilst leaving us entertained.  

Written and produced by: Georgina Housby 
Directed by: Sam Dinnage 
Full cast: Georgina Housby, Tom David Griffiths, Matt Underhill, Luke Dyer, Will Meadowcroft, Sam Dinnage, Polly Dennett, Annabel Mccusker 

Spare Room will play at theSpace on the Mile from Friday 7 to Saturday 22 August as part of EdFringe.