FLOAT tells the story of four female housemates who are in their early twenties and living their best lives.
They're out of their family homes, don’t have children and know they have to seize this opportunity of freedom before their thirties and the real world comes knocking on their door and all the responsibility that goes with it. So it’s nights out, house parties, loud music and boking in the bog and through all of this the girls bounce one-liners after another off each other in a dizzying barrage of wit and sarcasm. The scene is instantly recognisable from student houses and youthful gatherings the length and breadth of the country.
And this is where the writing is at its strongest and sharpest, but this student hedonistic lifestyle is shattered when one of the young women finally brings herself to tell her friends that during one such house party that she had been raped in her bedroom.
Written by Orla Graham and Kirby Thompson from Belfast, the play is produced by both women along with Caoimhe McGee under Crybaby Productions. It played last weekend at The Mac after having debuted at the Dublin Fringe Festival last year at Bewley’s Café Theatre. It is now heading to Edinburgh Fringe Festival this summer.
Writer and actress Orla Graham
Writer Orla Graham doubles up as Caitlyn, Ellen Andrews is Erin, Annina Noelle Watton plays Mia and Leah Williamson is Grace. Each of them is convincing in their roles but those performances that glowed at the beginning with youthful enthusiasm are darkened by a shadow and previous tight friendships are torn apart as the perpetrator is known to all four and loyalties are called into question as the friends try to heal and repair.
The pace drops in the second half of the play and the mood inevitably changes as they try to come to terms with what has happened and how it impacts on their lives.
A difficult subject to tackle, juxtaposing the comedy with the agony emphasises the depths to which friendships have floundered and Erin’s life has changed from that of the the care-free student. All four lives have changed but will they sink or float?
Written and performed by emerging female talent from Belfast, Float attracted a youthful audience to The Mac who were in tune with the scenarios portrayed on stage. I look forward to more from this writing team.
