Review: Our Town Needs a Nando’s

“I think I broke it, and I can’t fix it”

2 hours ago

The name of the show and its description on the ADC website make it sound like a pretty light-hearted play about high school, with some discussions of deeper issues, focusing on being queer or new in an unfamiliar environment. But once you check the Content Warning, all the horrors the show talks about are unveiled. That’s how it felt watching the show: being thrown from silly scenes about boredom in drama class to heartbreaking stories of sexual assault, abuse, fleeing from war, child neglect, eating disorders and more.

This is not a show for the weak. It’s a coming of age story, it’s a story about girlhood, but not in the complimenting each other’s lipstick, gossiping about boys and sleepovers kind of way – although that is also part of it – but in the wondering why women in books don’t have names, being warned not to go out at night and not being able to talk about their abuser kind of way. It’s a show about a small, boring town, but the focus is not on that. The focus is on perseverance and incredible courage of the girls who live there, the girls who were forced to become stronger, because otherwise they would crumble to pieces.

Image credit: Nmeso Egwuekwe

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The actors do an amazing job of showcasing this rollercoaster of emotions. Chloe, whose traumatic story is given the most time in the show, is portrayed by Micaela Williams (in her Cambridge acting debut!). Micaela is able to show fear coupled with courage, hope in the face of adversity and happiness fighting despair. The way her voice breaks and her hands shake while talking about the past is astounding. And the teenage mannerisms, from rolling her eyes to hand movements, while trying to talk her way into getting a new phone, are spot on.

Another incredible performance is from Georgina Brown, who plays Ellie. Her delivery of Ellie’s monologue about the dark thoughts she has, about her relationship with her mother, and why she rebels, was spectacular. And when Ellie and Zahidah, played by Diliara Sadykova, are telling their secrets, the audience holds their breath. Diliara’s performance brought a tear to the eye when she was talking about what her character had to go through to get here and why she values her life in this little unappreciated town. Eve Robson, as Beth, and Nicole Banas, as Rachel, too display a wide range of emotions – from heated arguments and rude comments, to caring and sweet gestures. Nicole manages to give off mean girl vibes, while having emotionally vulnerable moments. And Eve wonderfully portrays the switch up in the character’s personality when trying to impress someone they like. All the characters feel so real, as if you have met them before. Absolutely brilliant acting.

Image credit: Nmeso Egwuekwe

Even though the show tackles insanely hard topics, it manages to include a lot of humour. Those cheesy, cringy, funny, nostalgic high school moments are depicted amazingly. From hiding behind bushes to smoke a cigarette without teachers noticing, to goofing around in class playing ‘I spy’. The scene with James Bond girls is brilliantly written, and the drug awareness performance is hilarious. The set of the show is great in helping create this high school atmosphere, from posters on the walls to a whiteboard with drama techniques on it. And Emma Basso-M’Timkulu did a great job with costumes, including school uniforms and North Face puffers. The lights, by Aahana Jain, were also helpful in building tension and propelling the story forward.

That being said, the balance between tragedy and comedy, while done quite well in the beginning, was lost for me towards the end. The serious traumatising moments were at times followed by upbeat music, and many scenes didn’t leave enough time for the audience to recover. The show tries to make a lot of points while telling the stories of these five girls who have had a lot happen to them. But I fear it was too much for me. I found myself having to focus on every word not to miss anything important, which was draining in terms of focus, and so many traumatic points being brought up one after another was draining emotionally. However, the show did an amazing job in making me feel the pain of these girls, and in making me think about all the things people are silently struggling with, so credit is due there.

Image credit: Nmeso Egwuekwe

This is a show that’s going to make you miss high school and get deeply invested in imaginary gossip, while breaking your heart revealing the tragic stories of these girls. This isn’t a show for everyone, but I do recommend it. You just have to be prepared for both trauma and laughter.

3.5/5

Our Town Needs a Nando’s is showing 29th of October – 2nd of November at the Corpus Playroom. Book your tickets here.

Feature Image Credit: Nmeso Egwuekwe

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