Theatre 503 – until 29 November 2025
Reviewed by Claire Roderick
4****
Tanya-Loretta Dee’s debut full-length play is an absolute stunner.
Beginning with an eerie gothic fairytale account of a hunter and a deer, brilliantly staged on Mydd Pharo’s bleak set – tall grass, mounds of earth and chunks of mattress scattered in front of concrete coloured wallpapers creates a confusing imagery that becomes clearer as Bex continues her story and returns from her imagination to real life – making balloon animals in a party shop in Peckham.
A customer piques her interest and they arrange to go for drinks – not sure of it a date or not, Bex cancels plans with her flatmate. She falls for James straight away, but he is slower to respond, until he takes her to Nobu. Their relationship raises red flags for everyone but Bex. Sex in toilets, always meeting in hotels that get seedier and seedier, and only communicating by text. But Bex is obsessed with this completely ordinary man.
Her flatmate Greta (a friend since childhood) and her mother are concerned – and hints are dropped that this obsessive behaviour has happened before. Bex becomes more and more isolated from Greta and her mother and withdraws from her responsibilities as she overthinks her relationship and how James actually feels about her. When she finds out that James is married, Bex sees this as a bump in the road for their journey of true love, and her sexualised fairytales introduce James’s wife as the witch that hunts the princess and her wolf prince.
Dee weaves obsessive fantasy and everyday life brilliantly, switching from heightened passion or danger to a knowing wink in an instant. Bex is frustrating and selfish in her obsession, and her friends and family’s attempts to help are brushed off with contempt – making them the villains in Bex’s inner narrative as she blames her childhood trauma on her mother and expects Greta to be a cheerleader for her romance. When Bex has a sudden epiphany about the truth of her situation, there is hope, and her mother gives her the love and help she needs. But even as she is reading a book about limerence and the obsessive cycle she has repeated in her life, whether she is completely over James is still in doubt.
Dee’s impressive writing is matched by the fantastic design: Mydd Pharo’s set is lit beautifully by Cheng Keng, and Jamie Lu’s sound design completes the intense and atmospheric mood. Sophie Ellerby directs with great style, and meaning is drawn from every aspect of the set design as Dee performs Bex’s story with physicality and charm. An unsettling and spellbinding debut. Grab a ticket while you can.