White Bear Theatre 7 – 25 March. Reviewed by Claire Roderick
Jack Thorne has gone on to great things since writing Bunny, not least writing the phenomenon that is Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, but this new production serves as a reminder of his skill in finding ridiculously funny and dangerous situations in mundane lives.
Catherine Lamb stars as Katie, an intelligent middle class (her parents read The Guardian) white girl from Luton. Her older, black boyfriend Abe works in the office at the Vauxhall factory, but manages to walk her home from school most days. The embarrassment the two feel about their success, and their reversed aspirations – to be working on the factory floor with “their kind of people”- colour their every decision, and while moaning about Luton, rather than wanting to escape their situation, all they want to do is fit in.
Trying to impress factory workers Asif and Jake, Abe and Katie get sucked into a chase through Luton, ending up in a siege situation where nobody can back down. All because a kid on a bike knocked Abe’s ice-cream off its cone.
The narrative is constantly interrupted by Katie talking about her family, school and friends in a brilliantly authentic scattergun fashion of teenage conversation. Lighting changes and sound effects mark some, but not all transitions, adding to the shared feeling of confusion and panic building in Katie’s mind. The interruptions piece together Katie’s mental state, with tales of hopelessly helpful parents, bullying, being bullied, revenge and her easy, naïve promiscuity revealing that she is the Bunny in the fox’s eye, not the kid they are chasing.
This all sounds deep and meaningful, but it is also very, very funny. One liners and fantastic stories will have you howling with laughter, in between squirming uncomfortably as the foursome’s actions become more and more sinister.
Catherine Lamb is a convincing teenager, full of coy glances and bubbling energy. Her constant movement ramps up the tension in the quieter moments, and her physicality during the car chase is sublime. The House Of Pain sequence is full of joyful abandon and I think most of the audience wanted to jump up and join her.
The abrupt and ambiguous ending seemed to annoy a few members of the audience, but most, like me, thought it entirely appropriate – Katie chose suspense, and lets the audience imagine which path she takes. Brilliant.
Funny, still fresh, and fantastically written and performed, Bunny is a play well worth seeing.