Curve Theatre, Leicester and The Pleasance Theatre, London. On demand from 16 – 30 August 2021
Reviewed by Aimee Liddington
3***
Jo is ‘sort of a lesbian’ and she’s ‘sort of friends’ with Eva who is ‘sort of a liability’ – together they navigate the ups and downs of womanhood. When Jo becomes pregnant, she turns to Eva for support but Eva is going through her own dilemma. The two women support each other and in a story about sexuality and sexual health, we are reminded that family can be so much more than what it appears to be in a traditional sense.
Writer and producer, Holly Boyden covers some prominent difficulties for young women in this modern story set in the East Midlands. Although the audience is amused by the one-liners delivered by Eva, played by Lisa Ronkowski, her character also allows the audience to confront some serious topics such as abortion, STIs and infertility. Additionally, Jo, played by Gemma Kenny, brings some thought-provoking issues to the forefront concerning bisexuality and attitudes towards motherhood.
Holly Boyden herself, who played the role of Sheela, was successful in stepping in as extra characters such as the waitress in the restaurant scene and the doctor at the women’s clinic. I did, however, often feel confused by her presence when she stepped back into her role as the narrator. At times she seemed to need more confidence and could have delivered some of her lines with more conviction. I wonder whether this character would be better scaled back and if Boyden could work on the subtlety of the omnipresence of the narrator with director Natasha Kathi-Chandra.
The choice of staging was clever and Kenny, Ronkowski and Boyden worked well together to move the tables which were used to transform the stage from scene to scene. The lighting and sound, although very basic, seemed to work but during the filmed version there seemed to be a lot of background noise. At times, it wasn’t clear whether the noise was part of the production or was coming from elsewhere. This is of course something that would not have been an issue when viewing the play in person.
It Kind of Looks Like a Doughnut is an intriguing production which covers some very interesting and challenging topics with humour. The skeleton of a successful production is definitely there, the team just need to polish the finished article.