A teacher-pupil love affair. The premise is not in itself original, however playwright Fiona Evans lays something new on the table that spices things up and shifts the focus to gender: do our opinions vary on this scenario, depending on which gender plays which role in the relationship? Scarborough tells the same story twice – firstly with female teacher Lauren (Ava Pickett), and male pupil Daz (Charlie TanTam), then the same story repeated with Tantam playing a male teacher, Aiden, and Pickett playing his pupil, Beth. With a script repeated almost word-for-word in both incidents, the debate is whether we, the audience, feel differently depending on who plays who.

The entire play takes place in a rented room in Scarborough, where Lauren and Daz, and later Aiden and Beth, have come for “a dirty weekend” where they won’t be seen by their colleagues, friends… or, in the case of Lauren/Aiden, their partner. However, what is framed as a romantic escape – a ‘birthday treat’ for Daz/Beth – in reality feels like the beginnings of a break-up. We, the audience, have missed the initial, mutual passion and are presented with a relationship between a cautious teacher with wavering feelings, and an infatuated pupil. Lurking off-stage in both acts is Chris, the 47-year-old partner of (nearly) 30-year-old Lauren/Aiden, who both teacher-figures hint at having misspent their youth with.

The script is perfectly naturalistic, yet these seemingly menial interactions and affectionate tiffs tell us so much about the characters; in both cases we learn enough about each party to understand their personal situation, their place in the relationship, and their emotions towards the outcome. Similarly, the atmosphere in the room is appropriately tense. We’re invading a private moment in a relationship, and our intrusion on these intimacies – the leg stroking, long stares and kissing on the bed in fits of passion – makes us feel suitably uncomfortable. We’re witnessing something we shouldn’t, and never has a cough or someone leaving their seat for a mid-show loo break been so acutely noticeable.

This is theatre-in-the-round (or square in this case) and with a set comprised solely of a bed, the 50-odd audience members are practically perching on the sheets on all four sides. The props are wittily accurate: old pizza boxes, Haribo sweets, WKD bottles and a copy of the Sun displaying the ominous headline: “VIP paedo cover-up”.

With a second act comprising of the same script as the first, the jokes are naturally predictable; but in some moments, such as the birthday present, they’re funnier when we know what’s coming. Unfortunately, certain lines don’t translate as well as others between scenarios. Daz’s original “every time I look in the mirror I just get better-looking” sounds unnatural when it comes from Beth. Similarly, Lauren’s “are you saying I’m fat?” seems out of character when coming from Aiden. It is wise of Simon Paris to cut talking about Chris as Aiden’s swimming instructor in the second half, presumably a move made in response to reviews condemning this scene as a chief failing of the 2008 production. Tantam transitions brilliantly between the role of cocky pupil to tentative teacher, but Pickett, although giving a strong performance in both roles, seems more natural in the youthful, sultry character of Beth.

In the role-reversal, our attention is drawn to the differing reactions from Daz and Beth. Whilst Daz becomes angry with Lauren, Beth begins to cry when Aiden delivers the emotional blow. Do we feel more sympathetic towards Beth then we did Daz? Is Aiden ‘taking advantage’ of his pupil worse than Lauren doing the same with hers? The brilliant thing about Evans’s play is that it poses these questions without forcing us into either camp. By replicating the script across both situations, Evans stays neutral whilst her audience is left to empathise, take sides and debate as they see fit.

Scarborough played at the Courtyard Theatre until 9 October. For more information, see the Courtyard Theatre website. Photo: Courtyard Theatre.